The Third War
by ABubblyBritishWriter
Summary: Hermione and Draco go to America. How will Draco manage in the muggle world, and can he ever escape his past? Dramione.
1. Las Vegas

**Very short first part. I just wanted to get it started today, I'll continue more tomorrow.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione Granger or Draco Malfoy, or anything Harry Potter. **

Las Vegas 

Part 1

"Hermione, Where are we going again?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned in her seat towards Draco, "Las Vegas" she replied.

"Oh"

She turned back towards the window, watching the clouds fly slowly by below her. The Sun shone into her window, causing her to squint. She loved flying, In a plane that is, not on a Hippogriff. Not like her 3rd year. But that was a long time ago, and now it's just her and Draco, on a plane to America.

… "Hermione?"

She turned again to see Draco still staring at her. "Yes?"

"Are we there yet?"

"No, we have another 7 hours yet" and before he could reply again, she turned back towards the window.

"We could of just apparated, would of been so much quicker" Draco muttered under his breath.

Not bothering to turn back round, she said "I wanted to fly" and she did, for once in her life she felt free. The war had finished and now was her time, to do what she wanted. She didn't expect to be bringing Draco Malfoy with her though.

"Is this thing safe?" Draco snarled

Deciding to ignore Draco once and for all, she got up and made her way to the back of the plane. It was a quiet flight, so seats were empty. The whole of the back row was free, so she sunk into the seats, rested her head against the back and slowly drifted into sleep.

oOo

"Well, I must say, I am glad to be on solid ground again" Draco drawled.

They had arrived at Las Vegas, and were patiently (Impatiently in Draco's case) waiting for their luggage to come round.

"Couldn't I just _Accio _the luggage to come to us?" He whined, staring at the rotating conveyor belt. It was empty, apart from one random umbrella going round and round.

"If I see that umbrella one more time I swear I will - Draco started, but couldn't finish due to Hermione putting her hand over his mouth.

"Shhh" she glared at him "We're surrounded by Muggles"

Draco looked around, and luckily got the hint.

"Pfft" He replied. "Ca yo remv yor hnd plz"

She dropped her hand, and flicked her eyes back to the conveyor belt. She must admit, she was getting impatient, and the heat was getting to her. She wanted nothing more than to get to her hotel and relax with a cool drink.

"Thank you" Draco muttered, watching as the umbrella came into view again.

After what seemed like ages, the first suitcases started to appear and everyone started to surround the belt. Hermione was having trouble seeing. She looked over at Draco, who was now staring at some Muggle girls in the corner and sighed.

"Draco, go and see if our cases have come round yet" She said, giving him a little push towards the conveyor belt.

He stumbled, but didn't respond. Slowly he made his way over and stood near the front of the crowd. Suddenly he saw his bag and tried to make a grab for it, missing and falling onto the belt.

"Hermione! Heeeeeelpp" He yelled, slowly moving along the belt.

Hermione forced back a laugh, and ran forwards to help. She got to the other side of the belt and waited for Draco to come around. People were laughing at him, and pointing. Once he had reached her side, she grabbed his hand and pulled him off.

Red in the face, and looking extremely awkward, Draco muttered "You can get the luggage" and stalked off towards some nearby chairs.

Still trying not to laugh, Hermione managed to get the bag and put it down next to her, waiting for the others to appear. She glanced at Draco, who in turn was staring back at her, his face was still red. After getting the remaining suitcases and chucking them on a trolley, she made her way over to where Draco was sitting.

"Are you ok?" she smirked.

He looked up at her and glared, "I can't deal with Muggle inventions" he sighed.

"I noticed" she laughed "Come on, we need to find our bus"

**The Strip**

Hermione had read about Las Vegas and the famous strip so many times, but it didn't even come close to seeing it in real life. They arrived at night time and all they could see were lights, all different colours in all different directions. Casino's and Hotels flanked both sides of the strip, the famous pyramid hotel could be seen in the distance.

She was in awe, she thought Hogwarts was spectacular but this was something different, something more. She looked at Draco, he was also staring at the lights with a look of amazement on his face and Hermione realised he hasn't been anywhere like this before.

"What do you think?" She asked.

He looked at her and smiled. Maybe bringing him along wasn't a bad thing after all,

She did have her reservations at first, especially after the 7 years of hell he gave her. But she needed a break, and didn't want go alone, Malfoy was the only option. Especially as he was on the run from Death Eaters and his Parents.

They got their cases of the bus, and made their way into the Hotel Lobby. Hermione sorted out their rooms, They were staying in separate rooms. They were friends, but not that much. After thanking the receptionist and taking the keys she motioned Draco over to the lifts.

"What's this?" He said, eyeing the lift with suspicion.

"It's a lift. It takes us places" The doors pinged open, and Hermione made her way in. Turning round she saw Draco was still stood outside looking apprehensive.

"Are you coming or what?" she hissed.

She stepped forward and pulled him in, the doors slowly closing behind him. Hermione had never got this close to Draco before, and she had to admit, he smelt nice. His expensive aftershave lingered on his shirt and wafted towards her every time he moved. She still had her hand on the front of his clothes, something he quickly noticed.

He cleared his throat loudly, and Hermione jumped. She quickly released his clothes and pretended to be studying the lift buttons. _Pull yourself together, she thought. He's still a Malfoy. _


	2. Getting Wet

Hermione woke up early the next morning. She was excited to be on holiday, and couldn't wait to go and cool down in the pool. She put on her swimming costume, and covered up with a T-shirt and some shorts. Tying up her hair, she wondered if Draco was up yet. There was a soft knock on the door behind her, and she turned wondering if it was the room service she ordered.

Opening the door she saw not the room service but, Draco. He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt and his normally immaculate hair was damp and slightly wavy. Hermione couldn't help looking him up and down. Draco smirked, "Like something you see, Granger?"

She flushed and looked back at his face "What do you want, _Malfoy" _she snarled. But instead of taking offence, this seemed to amuse Draco more.

"I was wondering if you fancied breakfast, or, Maybe something more" He smirked again, winking at Hermione.

She rolled her eyes at him, grabbed her bag and made her way out into the hallway. Locking the door, she glanced at Draco, who was still smirking at her, and strolled off towards the lifts. She knew he was behind her, she could smell his aftershave again. The same musky vanilla smell as last night. She stalked into the lift and pressed the button, still avoiding Draco's gaze.

"What do you want to do today?" he asked

"I was planning on spending it by the pool" she replied, focussing a little too intently on the lift doors.

"Mind if I join you?"

She looked over at him, he never looked this good at Hogwarts. _Oh God, he's seen me looking again, she thought. He's going to think I fancy him, which is just laughable. _She giggled to herself and Draco looked over, confused. _Great, now he think's I'm crazy. _

Reaching the lobby, they made their way over to the buffet. Hermione was feeling quite hungry now, so piled her plate full of watermelon, apricots and plums. She felt Draco brush against her and shivered.

"I'm going to get a table" she mumbled, and walked as fast as possible, without looking like a moron, towards a table. She chose one that overlooked the pool, and sat down happily. It was a gorgeous day, no clouds to be seen. She could relax here all day, quite happily. Well, until her view was blocked by a blonde head. Draco had sat down opposite and was eating like there was no tomorrow.

"You're just like Ron. You never stop eating" she said, looking slightly nauseous. He just grinned at her, and she felt her stomach jolt.

After Breakfast, Hermione and Draco made their way down to the pool. She chucked her towel and bag onto the nearest sun bed and made her way over to the water. Dipping a toe in, she shuddered. The water was still cold. _Maybe I'll just sit on the edge until it warms up. _She thought.

Suddenly, something brushed against her and she lost her balance. As if it were slow motion, Hermione found herself falling into the pool. Hitting the water was like hitting freezing ice, she yelped and turned around to see Draco laughing his head off at her.

"You- You - I'll" She stuttered. She saw him make his way over to her,

"I'm sorry, Hermione" he laughed, tears were running down his face.

"Here" he said, and held his hand out waiting for her to grab hold of it.

Hermione grabbed his hand, but instead of being pulled out, she tugged and Draco too, lost his balance, smashing into the water next to her. He too, yelped and turned to glare at Hermione. Even though the pool was cold, something hot was running between them both. Laughing, Draco grabbed her hand and pulled her to the side of the pool.

"You'll be sorry for that" He whispered. He moved close to her neck, and felt her stiffen. Smirking slightly, he put his mouth within an inch of her shoulder, _He's going to kiss me _She thought.

SPLASH

A cold wave of water hit her right in the face. Rubbing her eyes angrily, she saw Draco was once again laughing at her, he climbed out of the pool and went back to the sun bed. She could still hear him laughing, and furious at herself, followed him out of the pool.


	3. Love's a Fool

**Chapter 3 - I'm sorry again that it's short, I am wiped out with work :( There will be humor later on, and I apologise for my writing, it will improve later on once I get into the story more. **

**I hope you enjoy it, I'm not sure how far to take their relationship.. **

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter, Hermione or Draco. JK Rowling does :)**

**Enjoy**

Hermione was annoyed, seriously annoyed. She got out of the pool, grabbed her stuff and made her way back to her hotel room. She didn't want to see Draco, see the smug look upon his face. _How did I fall for that? _She thought angrily. _He wouldn't like me, He's been calling me a Mudblood for the past 7 years. _She fumbled with the keys, dropping them in haste. Snarling to herself, she grabbed them and made her way into the room, chucking her bag and clothes onto the bed.

She sank down into the chair near the window and sighed. She missed Ron and Harry, she missed Ginny and she even missed Fred and George. But they were back in England and she was here, with Malfoy. Looking out the window Hermione watched the Sun slowly sinking below the horizon, turning the sky into a beautiful orange blanket. She lay her head against the back of the chair, slowly closing her eyes.

She must of dozed of, for when she woke up, the sky was black. Below her she could see the Las Vegas Strip lighting up the skyline, a mixture of rainbow colours. She looked around the room and sighed. Getting up she wandered slowly over to the wardrobe and pulled out her favourite evening dress. It was midnight black with small star shaped sequins running around the middle. It was low cut, not Hermione's usual standard, but Ginny helped her choose it. Told her that she should treat herself, so she brought it. She also bought some onyx ballet shoes, little sequins lined the side, and once she had both items on she shuffled towards the mirror.

Looking back at her was a different girl, she was radiant, glowing. Her hair was tied back but instead of being bushy it was silky, smooth and shined in the moonlight. She didn't know where Draco was, and she didn't care. She was here for a holiday and she wanted to enjoy it. Satisfied that she looked decent, she made her way towards the lobby. There was a restaurant she wanted to try which specialised in seafood. Her favourite. Making her way over to the entrance, she saw couples on all the tables. They were holding hands, kissing, whispering sweet nothings into each others ears. It reminded her of earlier, when her and Draco were in the pool, and she was convinced he was going to kiss her. _I'm such a fool, Just a stupid fool. _The room was dark, a single fat candle sat on each table barely lighting up the couple's faces.

"Can I help you Madam?" A waiter had come up to her, tray on one hand, towel chucked over his arm.

"Yes, table for one please" Hermione said, feeling embarrassed at being the only one alone.

"Of course Madam, follow me please"

The waiter led her over to a table by the window. It was in the corner, and she couldn't see as many couples from this spot. Perfect, she thought.

"Would you care for something to drink?" The waiter asked, eyeing her dress curiously.

"Just, a water please"

After the waiter had left to get her drink, Hermione pulled out a book "_History of Ancient Runes" _found her page and started to read. This was more like it she thought. Just her and a book, the way it should be.

"Here's your drink, Madam" The waiter said, placing her water down in front of her. He hesitated for a moment, still eyeing her dress then turned round and left to deal with another customer.

She heard the chair opposite her move, and thought the waiter had returned. Looking up she saw it wasn't the waiter, but Draco. He was wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie. His hair was, once again, immaculate. He looked slightly nervous, something Hermione hadn't seen since their last year at Hogwarts.

"May I?" he said, nodding towards the chair.

Hermione jerked her head in a "if you must" sort of manner.

"I'm sorry for earlier" Draco muttered, his voice low.

"I thought you should be left alone, I remember the birds you set on Ron, and the time you punched me" He rubbed his nose self consciously.

He watched Hermione and smiled cautiously, wondering whether she would forgive him or not.

"I expect you just enjoy playing me" Hermione snarled, angrily.

Shock flitted across Draco's face.

"Playing you?" he asked.

"Playing, leading me on. Whatever you want to call it" Hermione snapped.

Draco reached across the table and put his hand against Hermione's. He gently pulled the book out of her grasp and set it to one side. He cupped her hands in his and looked carefully into her eyes

"Does this feel like playing to you?" he whispered, circling the back of her hand with his thumb.

Hermione didn't break the connection, although her head was screaming at her too. But, for once she ignored it. Her heart was beating twice as fast, or at least it felt like it. It was roaring in approval at the touch, a static current was running through her hands into his. She could smell his favourite sent again, it seemed to heighten her senses, and she forgot about the couples around her.

"Madam, are you reading to order?" The waiter was back, notebook in hand, completely oblivious to the scene before him.

Hermione jumped, as though someone grabbed her. She pulled her hands out of Draco's and flushed deep crimson. Avoiding his eyes, she looked up at the waiter

"I.. I'm not hungry anymore"

Getting up, she snatched her book and ran out of the restaurant. Draco was behind her, calling her name but she didn't stop, didn't turn. She had to get out of there before her heart betrayed her again.

"Hermione! Hermione Wait!" Draco called, struggling to keep up.

Hermione ran into the ladies toilets, turned on the spot and apparated.


	4. Head or Heart?

**The first part of this chapter will follow Draco and how he's feeling atm, then the second part will follow Hermione again. **

**Slightly longer chapter this time. Will Draco and Hermione get together or is it a lost cause? **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Enjoy. :)**

_Draco_

Draco knew Hermione had Apparated, he recognised the familiar _Crack _from anywhere. _Great, just great _He thought. _She's run away, again. Smooth. _He looked around the deserted lobby and slowly made his way back towards his room. It wasn't the same without Hermione, the hotel seemed greyer, and he was surrounded by Muggles in the middle of a country he barely knew. He could try and find her, but then again, she could be anywhere. _Why do I care anyway? I don't like her like that. _

Reaching his room, he flopped down on his bed, closed his eyes and remembered back to the incident in the lift. She had pulled him in, and her hand lingered on his shirt, he could smell her perfume, could see her looking into his eyes. _She should hate me, after what I called her. After all the trouble I got her, Potter and Weasley in. _He wondered whether or not she felt the electric current that passed through them just a few hours before. Why did she run anyway? Unless, she did like him as more.

He smiled at the thought, and wondered what his parents, and ex friends would think if he got with a muggleborn. His parents hated him anyway seeing as he chose good over evil. They had disowned him after that, and chucked him out the manor. His friends had ditched him, wanting nothing more to do with a traitor. So now, here he was. In America, with Granger. He was worried, where had she gone? Will she come back? He decided that if she wasn't back in the morning he'd go looking for her, and with Hermione clearly taking up all his thoughts, he sunk into a restless sleep.

He woke up again a few hours later, Was she back yet? Deciding that he didn't want to leave it like this, he got out of bed and made his way over to the dressing table. Pulling open the drawer he saw a pad of paper, and a pen. He decided to write Hermione a note, telling her how he felt. He hesitated, feeling slightly embarressed. _I've never written a note to a girl before. What do I say? _It took him several attempts to get the words out properly. Satisfied, he got up and walked to Hermiones room, sliding the note underneath the door. He placed his ear against the door, but the room was silent. Upset and annoyed, he slowly made his way back into his room, got into bed and fell asleep.

_Hermione_

Hermione arrived at the burrow just after Midnight, she landed in the familiar cornfield. Looking up at the house, she smiled. She didn't realise how much she missed the place, until now. Lights were on in the down stair's windows. She could see Mrs Weasley bustling about, and Fred or George (she could never tell them apart) was talking to her. Hermione made her way over to the door, hesitated, and knocked gently. Whilst she waited, she looked around the garden, it was still damaged from the war. She heard a creak behind her, and turned back to see Mrs Weasley looking through a slit in the door. She saw it was Hermione and her face broke into a smile.

"Hermione dear, come in come in. Aren't you meant to be in America still?" She asked, opening the door and standing to one side to allow Hermione to enter.

"I needed to see Harry and Ron, are they here?" Hermione asked timidly, looking around the room. It was just as cosy as she remembered it and she sunk gratefully into one of the squishy armchairs.

"They're just upstairs dear, I'll call them. Do you want a drink?"

"Just a hot chocolate please" Hermione smiled.

She felt at home here, she always did. Ron and Harry came into the living room and sat on the sofa opposite Hermione, they looked at her warily, wondering why she was back so soon, and also why she was alone.

Hermione still felt awkward around Ron, especially after their argument. She was grateful Mrs Weasley didn't hold a grudge and still allowed her into the house. She noticed Harry was looking at her, waiting for her to speak.

"Is everything ok, Hermione?" He asked, accepting a drink from Mrs Weasley.

"Everything's fine, I just - Missed you both" She lied, sipping her drink and looking around the room to avoid their eye contact.

"Where's Malfoy?" Harry asked

"Still in America" and without warning she burst into tears. Harry got up and sat on the arm of the chair, putting his arm around her shoulders.

"What's happened?" he urged, slowly rubbing her back, whilst Ron went and got a box of tissues. He returned shortly and placed them on her lap.

"I think I'm falling for him, and he doesn't like me back" Hermione sobbed, pulling a tissue out and blowing her nose.

Ron looked disgusted "You're falling for Malfoy?" he growled.

"I can't help it - I don't want to like him - " but she broke off, more tears falling down her face. Harry and Ron exchanged looks.

It took a while for them to get Hermione to calm down, and once she did she told them about the lift and pool incident. They told her not worry about it, and that he was afterall a Malfoy and then told her about what was going on at home, and how much they missed her.

"Are you going to go back" Harry asked

"Yes, I should be used to Malfoy by now, I'm not letting him ruin this for me" She sniffed.

She got up, hugged Harry and Ron and apparated back to Las Vegas.

Coming out of the ladies toilets, she made her way towards the lifts, and back into her room.

Underneath her door was a note, she walked over to her bed, flicked on the light, got undressed and climbed into bed. She carefully unfolded the note and saw with a jolt that it was from Draco.

_Dear Hermione, _

_I am, so sorry, about tonight. Well, sorry for the last few days. You have been nothing but nice to me, and I threw it back in your face. It's hard to understand my feelings, and try to forget the last 7 years. We used to be enemies and now, what are we? _

_I would like to make it up to you, if you will let me? Lets go into town tomorrow night, We can go for a meal and talk about this. _

_Please let me know tomorrow, and I hope you come back soon. It's not the same without you here (I bet you didn't expect me to be saying that)_

_Draco Malfoy_

_P.S You looked Beautiful tonight, as always. _

She smiled, she couldn't help it. Her head told her she was stupid, and to remember the pool incident, but her heart purred in approval. Placing the note carefully on the bedside table, she flicked out the light and fell asleep.

oOo

Early the next morning Hermione woke up to find Draco sat in the chair by the window, watching her. She quickly pulled the covers up around her and sat up. He smirked, got up and walked over to the bed. Sitting next to her he smiled.

"Morning" He said. Noticing her confusion he added "Your door was unlocked"

Hermione looked embarrassed, why is he in my room? She thought. He was wearing fresh clothes but looked tired and pale. He caught her looking "I didn't get much sleep last night"

"Oh" Hermione replied, she noticed he had a small box in his hand, and wondered what it was.

"This is for you," Draco whispered "To wear tonight, if you come out with me, that is" he murmured, looking nervous for the first time.

Hermione took the box and gently prised it open. Inside was a long, silver chain. Each segment had a diamond wrapped in silver, and in the middle was a little diamond incrusted "H".

"To apologise" Draco said, watching her cautiously.

Hermione could feel the tears rising up inside of her, and looked out towards the window, she knew Draco had noticed though.

"Thank- Thank you" she stammered, pulling the necklace gently from the box and letting it run through her fingers.

"May I?" He asked, holding his hand out for the necklace, so that he could put it on her.

"Su-sure" She gently handed him the chain. He lifted up her hair and put it over her left shoulder, then carefully put the necklace on her, before placing her hair back. He sat back and watched as the diamonds glistened in the sunlight.

Hermione stood up and stumbled towards the mirror. The necklace gleamed back at her, each of the diamonds acted like a miniature Sun. She smiled and turned back towards Draco.

"It's gorgeous, Thank you"

He got up and walked over to her, gently putting his hand against her cheek.

"Just like you" he whispered.

He licked his lips and moved towards Hermione, their lips met and the electric current between them intensified. She wrapped one hand around his waist and the other through his hair. She kissed him back with such passion that he was momentarily surprised. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her back with the same ferocity.

They slowly broke apart, "Am I forgiven?" Draco asked tenderly.

**And that's where I'm leaving it for now hehe :) Hope you're enjoying it. **


	5. Love and Oysters

_**A new chapter, I might have to up the rating.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry potter. **_

That evening Hermione got dressed in her midnight black dress again, this time though she wore the necklace Draco had given her. He wouldn't tell her where and when he got it_, He really is a man of mystery _She mused. Draco was taking her to a restaurant at the other end of the Strip, it also specialized in sea food. Hermione stood in front of the mirror and for once, she liked the reflection. Her hair was braided and tied to one side and she wore light make up. She smiled, and the reflection seemed to smile back more.

A light knock on the door made her jump, she self consciously straightened down her already straight dress, picked up her beaded bag (in which concealed her wand, spare make up and just in case, a book) and made her way over to the door. Opening it carefully she saw Draco stood before her, a bunch of white and red roses in his hands. He wore a fitted suit, this time with a green tie (Still has Slytherin colours Hermione thought) his hair was carefully slicked back, and looked immaculate. He took in her dress and the necklace then smiled.

"For you" he said, holding out the flowers. Hermione took them, and carefully placed them in the bathroom sink with some water.

"You look as stunning as usual" Draco said from behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and gently kissed her neck. Hermione flushed, and turned round in his grasp, so that they were nose to nose. He kissed her lightly on the cheek then led her out of the room. They walked through the lobby and out to the front of the hotel.

"I ordered us a taxi" Draco said "seeing as you won't be able to walk far in those shoes"

Hermione was stunned, "you managed to order a taxi?" she said.

"I'm not completely useless" he said, watching the road.

Once they were in the taxi and cruising down the Strip, Hermione turned to Draco "Do you have any Muggle money?" she asked.

Draco shook his head, looking worried. "Maybe we could just stun him at the other end" he whispered.

Hermione laughed "Don't worry, I have a few dollars"

The seafood restaurant was easy to make out. It had a giant lobster over the door, and painted clams lining the walls. Hermione handed the driver the correct money, and got out. Draco seemed to be having trouble with the door, so she went round to his side and opened it for him. Flushing, he muttered his thanks and looked up at the building in front of them.

"I guess this is the place" he smirked.

They got a table over by the lobster tank, and Draco picked up the cocktail menu.

"Sex on the beach" he muttered, looking up at Hermione "Is that really - "

"No! " Hermione cut him off, laughing. "It's a drink!"

Draco flushed, " of course, I knew that" he said, quickly placing the cocktail menu down and picking up the "specials today" menu.

"I think I'll have lobster with oysters" Hermione said, scanning through the menu. She looked up to see Draco staring at her.

"What?" she said.

"What are.. Oysters?" He asked

"Haven't you tried them?" Hermione asked, shocked. She thought the Malfoy's would have oysters all the time.

"No, are they nice?"

"Yes, they are seen as a delicacy" She said lightly.

"May I take your order, Sir, Madam?" A waiter said, pulling out a notebook and pen.

Hermione looked at Draco, who motioned for her to go first, then turned to the waiter "I'll have the lobster with Oysters, and a red wine please"

The waiter jotted down her order then turned to Draco "And you sir?"

"Um, ok, I'll have the Oysters, the Crab and Sex on the beach please"

Hermione had to bite back a laugh, and Draco flushed again. "I meant the drink…." He said, avoiding Hermione's eye contact.

"Of course Sir" said the waiter before walking of to the kitchen.

Half an hour later, the waiter was back with two large platters. He placed one before Hermione and the other before Draco.

"Bon appetite" he said cheerfully, before lifting the lids and retreating.

Draco looked at his plate, there was 10 large oyster's sat in the middle of some crushed ice. He picked one up and looked at Hermione,

"What do I do ?"

"Tip your head back and swallow it" She said, looking amused. Oysters were a difficult item to eat.

Draco took a last look at his oyster, tipped his head back and put the oyster into his mouth. He made a face, and spat the oyster back out. It fell with a small thud onto the floor.

"That is disgusting" He said, taking a large swig of drink to get rid of the taste.

Hermione burst out laughing, she picked up her own oyster, tilted her head back and swallowed it whole.

"Simple," she said, grinning at the face Draco was making.

"I think I'll skip these" he said, pushing them away. He grabbed a smaller platter nearby and pulled it forward. On a dressing of lettuce leaves was a whole crab.

"Um, Hermione?" He said, not taking his eyes of the crab before him.

She looked up from her Oysters "Yes?"

"Where's the meat?" He asked, looking confused.

"You need to open the crab," she said, pointing at a sharp knife to his left. "The meat's inside"

Looking cautious, he picked up the knife and stabbed the crab. The knife slipped of the shell and pierced the table instead. He looked up at Hermione, who was smirking at him.

"Give it here," she laughed.

She took the crab and expertly cut it open, revealing the meat inside, she then handed it back to Draco.

The evening was going well, Draco was on his 6th "Sex on the beach" and was swaying a bit in his seat. "I don't want to leave this place" he said,

Hermione felt the same, they were moving on to New York tomorrow. But she had enjoyed seeing the lights out of her window every night, and waking up to the Sun shining into her room every morning.

She downed the last of her wine, and got up. "Come on," she said, "Let's go for a walk"

Draco stood, still swaying slightly. They made their way out of the restaurant and walked down the Strip looking at the different shops, casino's and Hotels. Draco put his arm around Hermione's and was grinning like a moron at her.

"Hermione, " He started, "You know I love you, don't you?"

Hermione flushed, and didn't reply for a while.

"Hermionnneeee" Draco whined, Stumbling over his own feet.

"You don't even know me" She said, her voice low.

He turned to look at her, " I've known you for 7 years"

"I think you need to get to bed" She said, pulling him out of the way of a group of tourists.

"With you?" He grinned.

She flushed more, a small smile played on her lips.

**Sorry had an urge to write this chapter, I needed some humor in this story. ****J**


	6. The Warning

**I have been thinking about what to do for the next chapter, so in this one we move on to New York. There's going to be a lot of action in this one and the chapter will be pretty long. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Lady gaga, America or anything else mentioned in this story. **

**Enjoy **

**Death Eaters in Manhattan - The Warning**

Hermione pulled Draco into his room. By now he was half asleep, mumbling random words and giggling to himself. On the ride back he kept singing "Love game by Lady Gaga" and Hermione had to put her hand over his mouth due to the taxi driver giving him strange looks. She led him over to his bed and gently put him down. He cuddled his pillow and mumbled "Mmm, You're so soft Hermione" whilst trying to kiss it. Grinning to herself, Hermione slowly shuffled out of the room and closed the door. She couldn't believe she was falling for Draco, he seemed so different now that he was away from his parents and the other Death Eaters. He seemed more relaxed, more alive.

Hermione opened her bag and started searching for her key. It wasn't a large bag, but she had put the undetectable extension charm on it, so inside was like a warehouse. She located her wand, pulled it out and pointed it at the bag whilst whispering "_Accio Keys" _. Nothing happened. She looked manually for a while before realising they weren't there. What was she going to do?

She turned round and gazed at Draco's room. It was unlocked. Would he mind if she slept in there? Cautiously, she opened the door again. Draco was lying on his bed, snoring his head off. She made her way over to the window, pointed her wand at the floor and made some blankets and a pillow appear. Taking one last look at Draco, she dropped onto her bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

**The next morning... **

"Couldn't keep away eh?" Someone above her smirked. Hermione jolted awake, looking up to see Draco stood over her.

"I lost my keys" She glared.

"Of course you did" He said, smirking more.

She flushed, "Sobered up then?" she snarled, embarrassed at how red she was going. She turned away, pretending to look in her bag for something.

She could smell his sent getting closer, the same musky Vanilla. Which had to mean one thing, he was right next to her. Looking round she found herself nose to nose with Draco. The second time in like 2 days. He was crouched down next to her, his grey eyes were twinkling, and he was saying something, but she ignored it. She couldn't turn away, and she didn't want too.

"Hermione, are you even listening to me?"

She jumped. "Sorry" she muttered hastily.

"I was just saying, we should get packed. Our next flight is at 4pm and it's - " he glanced down at his watch "11am, right now"

"Oh yes, of course." She got up, pulled out her wand so that the blanket and pillow disappeared and made her way to her room. It wasn't until she was outside the door that she remembered it was locked, and she had no key.

She glanced up and the down the corridor and saw that it was deserted.

Carefully, she pulled out her wand and whispered "Alohamora". The door clicked open and she made her way inside. She grabbed her suitcase from the top of the wardrobe and was about to start packing when she saw Hedwig sat on the balcony outside, with a letter tied to her leg.

Hermione hurried across the room, and unlocked the balcony door. Hedwig flew in and landed on her bed. She made her way over and untied the letter, causing Hedwig to ruffle her feathers and fly back out the door into the cloudless blue sky.

Sitting down, Hermione unfurled the letter. It was from Harry and Ron.

_Dear Hermione, _

_We hope you're having a good holiday, and that you haven't killed Malfoy yet (Although Ron said he wouldn't mind if you did) _

_We are just writing to warn you, or more precisely to warn Malfoy. We have word from the Order that a few Death Eaters are after him, they have already seen his parents who have told them he and you are in America. They haven't told them where you two are though, which is good. But still, be alert. _

_See you when you come back,_

_Harry and Ron_

_P.S Ron says; Have you come to your senses yet?_

Hermione felt her blood run cold. Death Eaters were coming to America? To get Draco? She had to warn him.

"Do you think we should go back?" Hermione murmured, watching Draco read the letter for like the tenth time. He ran his hand through his hair, and turned to face her, his face paler than usual.

"No" He replied. "If we go back they'll know where we are. They want me dead, and if we go back, everyone else will be in danger too

"Besides, America is huge and judging by this" He motioned to the letter "they don't know where I am"

Hermione knew he was trying to be brave, but his voice quivered and gave him away. She moved closer to him and put an arm round his shoulders, he sighed softly and leant his head against her chest. They stayed like this until Hermione realised she hadn't packed her suitcase so she made her way out of the room only pausing to look back at Draco. He was sat in the same position, but he had his head in his hands and was shaking softly. She hurried back to her room, chucked her stuff in the suitcase and dragged it out into the hallway. Leaving it to one side, she made her way back into Draco's room.

"Ready?" she asked.

He smiled faintly at her and chucked the remaining things into his suitcase.

**New York**

They arrived in New York a few hours later, and were now standing outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Manhattan. Hermione glanced at Draco, who was still looking pale, then made her way into the foyer.

She walked up to the receptionist, a youngish lady, who was currently on the phone and speaking very quickly. She saw Hermione approach, and motioned that she would only be a minute longer.

Eventually she put the phone down and smiled up at Hermione, "May I help you?" she asked,

"Yes, I need two rooms please" Hermione replied, pulling out some Muggle money.

"One Moment" she said, checking on the computer, "I'm afraid we only have one room available"

"Oh, Um." She looked over at Draco who just nodded, and said "That will do"

She took the keys and pulled Draco over to the lifts. "You sure you're ok with this?" she asked, pressing the button for floor 3.

"Yeah, as long as you can keep your hands of me at night" He smirked.

Reaching their room, she unlocked the door and made her way inside. The room was light and airy, the walls covered in a pale yellow. In the middle of the room stood a large king sized bed. Over by the window she saw that another owl was perched outside, tapping on the glass. She nudged Draco and he gasped.

"What's Hershel doing here" Draco muttered looking confused.

"Who?" Hermione replied staring at the owl then at Draco.

"He's my Father's owl" Draco said quietly, he wandered over to the window and pulled it open. The Eagle owl flew in and dropped the letter onto the bed, before flying out again.

Draco hurried over the bed and quickly opened the letter, "It's from my Father. He wants to meet me tonight." He looked up at Hermione, fear etched on his face.

**This is part one - Part two will come soon :)**

**Part 2 - Enjoy**

Hermione ran over to Draco, looking over his shoulder at the letter in his hands. It read:

_Draco,_

_We need to talk, it's urgent. Meet me in Times Square tonight at Midnight. _

_Lucius M._

Hermione looked at Draco, "Are you going to go?" she whispered.

He didn't answer immediately, just kept gazing at the letter. Hermione noticed his eyes were watering, she knew how hard it must be for him to be dis owned by his family, and be with someone he's hated for the past 7 years. Slowly he crumpled up the letter and chucked it back onto his bed.

"I'll hear him out. But that's all. " He looked back at Hermione "Will you come with me? I don't want to go alone"

"Of course I will," she smiled.

He smiled back and went to unpack his suitcase, Leaving Hermione to think. Why does Draco's Father suddenly want to know? Maybe he's going to warn him about the Death Eaters, she thought.

At half 11 that night, Hermione and Draco caught a cab up to Times Square. They both had their wands with them, as they didn't fully trust Draco's Father.

"Times Square" the driver said.

"Thank you" Hermione replied, handing him a few notes, "Keep the change"

They got out and started looking around for Lucius. They spotted him standing in the corner underneath a huge billboard advertising the latest perfume. Hermione grabbed Draco's hand and together they made their way over to where Lucius was standing.

"Father" Draco said, looking at the ground.

"Draco " he said, then turned to look at Hermione, "And you must be the Mudblood"

"Don't call her that!" Draco snarled angrily.

Lucius simply ignored him. "Come with me Draco, we need to talk" he turned round, and started walking off down a side street. Draco glanced at Hermione, who gave a half shrug, then followed his Father. Hermione followed Draco, sticking close behind him.

At the end of the street, Lucius turned again now entering a narrow alleyway. He got halfway then spun round and shouted "_Stupefy_!" causing Draco to fall to the floor.

Hermione screamed, whipped out her wand and yelled "_Impedimenta!" _but Lucius blocked it with a flick of his wand. He then flicked his wand again and Hermione fell to the floor with an Oof.

Looking down at his Son he said "I'm sorry Draco, I have to do this. You are a disgrace to my family, If I don't kill you, they will"

He pointed his wand at Draco, unstunned him and screamed "_Crucio!"_

Draco writhed round on the floor, his limbs were on fire. He felt as though his flesh was burning away and his head felt as though it was about to explode. He panted, looking up at his Father who looked down at him with a cruel, angry expression on his face. There was no love in his eyes, only embarressment.

"_Expelliarmus_!" A voice from behind screamed, Lucius's wand flew out his hand and landed on the floor some 20 feet away. Draco stopped writhing, but was still twitching and panting heavily.

Lucius turned round and saw Hermione glaring at him, her wand held at his chest. "Well Well, the Mudblood knows some spells" He sneered.

Hermione didn't flush, instead she glared at him more. Anger was flaring up inside of her, she flicked her wand and a large slash appeared on Lucius's chest. He let out a howl of pain and lunged for her, knocking them both to the ground. Her wand fell from her hand, and rolled away under a nearby trashcan.

Lucius put his hands round her neck, "People like you, shouldn't be alive." he panted, "you give us a bad name" and with that he slapped her.

He was about to slap her again but Draco had got up, grabbed his Father by the back of his cloak and pulled him off her. "It's me you want" Draco snarled, "Not her" He then pushed his Father into the wall.

Lucius saw his wand lying on the floor 10 feet away and grabbed it. Turning back towards Draco, he saw his Sons wand held at his neck.

"Going to kill me, Draco?" he sneered. "You can't kill anyone, you coward. It's your fault the dark lord failed"

"Good" Draco snarled, and swished his wand, causing Lucius to fall to the floor howling in pain again. Draco waved his wand again and Lucius fell with a small thump.

Lucius was knocked unconcious so Draco went over to Hermione, she was weak and shaking. "Are you ok?" he whispered, pulling her into his lap.

She nodded faintly. Draco pulled off his jacket, and placed it under Hermione's head. "I'm going to get help" he said quietly.

He was halfway down the alleyway when he heard "_I'll kill you, you filthy little Mudblood_" and felt as though his heart had stopped. He spun round and ran back towards where Hermione was. He thought he knocked his Father out, if Hermione died, it would be his fault. Fear shot through him and made his adrenaline rise.

He stopped short at the scene before him, Hermione was lying on the floor still, but Lucius had his wand pointed at her chest. Draco ran forward, just as Lucius waved his wand, and smashed into him, knocking his wand away from Hermione. Anger was running through his body and making him shake. Lucius stared at him, astonished. "You're willing to die for a Mudblood?" He snarled. He then pointed his wand at him, flicked it and Draco fell to the ground.

Lucius took one more look at his Son, "You're a failure" he whispered staring down at his Sons crumpled body and then Disapparated.

**And this is where I leave it for now :) Thank you to MandyHowlOwl150 for your reviews, hope you like this chapter :) I've left it at a cliffhanger cause I'm evil. Is Draco dead or alive? **


	7. More Than Meets The Eye

**This is chapter 7. The second part of this Chapter will follow Lucius for a bit, so we know why he tried to kill Draco and how he found him. But first, lets see if Draco is alive or not …. This is quite a sad chapter, for which I'm sorry, it will get better though :)**

**Enjoy**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Draco, Hermione, or anything else Harry Potter wise.**

Rain was trickling into the alleyway, running down the grubby walls and landing with a small "splish splish splish" on the pavement. Voices could be heard in the distance, laughing, screaming, shrieking in joy. The people of New York enjoying their Saturday night out in Times Square, without a care in the world. The rain didn't affect them. In the alleyway two people were lying on the pavement, the first to stir was the girl. Hermione woke up to the sound of raindrops bouncing off the pavement.

Looking around she saw Draco lying on his back, eyes closed. _No, No, _she thought to herself. Panic rose up in her and her eyes watered, not due to the rain, but through fear. Was Draco, could he really be, dead? She crawled over to him, flinching as she did so, her body was sore and aching. She gently placed two fingers to his neck and felt a faint pulse. Relief swept over her. Sitting down next to him, she pulled off her top jacket and placed it over Draco's chest. She then ran her hand over his forehead, he was cold, so cold. Carefully, she stroked his forehead, and as though at her touch, his eyes flickered.

"Her - Hermione" He whispered faintly.

"I'm here," Hermione replied, still stroking his forehead.

Slowly, Draco opened his eyes and looked at Hermione. He smiled faintly,

"You - You're ok" He croaked softly.

Tears started to run down Hermione's face, she hastily rubbed her eyes with her hand, not taking them off of Draco.

"Of course I am," She smiled, "You saved me"

"Where's - Father?" He asked

"Gone" Hermione said, watching Draco let out a small groan and close his eyes again.

"Maybe" He began "You should just leave me. They won't give up until I'm dead"

"Don't be stupid!" Hermione whispered Fiercely. "I'm not leaving you here!"

He didn't reply, just lay on his back, he would of looked dead if it wasn't for the fact that his chest was slowly moving up and down.

"We need to get you to a hospital, I don't know how to fix these wounds and you're too weak to Apparate" Hermione said, "I need to go and get help" she whispered but still he didn't reply, his breathing getting slower.

She got up, grabbed her wand and made her way out of the alleyway. Once she reached the end she looked back, Draco was still lying on the ground unmoving. Fresh tears ran down Hermione's face and she ran into Times Square to get help. She saw a phonebooth on the other side of the street and ran over to it. Dialling 911, she got an Ambulance to come to Times Square. She hung up, and ran back over the road to the alleyway entrance.

10 minutes later an Ambulance arrived, two men jumped out and grabbed a stretcher. Hermione led them down the alleyway to where Draco was laying. He hadn't moved since she left. Hermione watched as the two ambulance men gently lifted Draco onto the stretcher, they then carried him down the alleyway and carefully placed him in the back of the ambulance. Turning towards Hermione, one of the men said

"Do you know this man?"

"He's - He's my - Boyfriend" she cried, tears running freely now as she watched Draco's limp body.

"Are you coming to the hospital?" He asked, handing her a tissue.

"Yes, Of course" She climbed up in to the ambulance and sat beside Draco, holding his hand in hers. "It'll be ok, Muggles are very good at healing people" she whispered to him.

One of the men came and sat opposite her "I need to monitor his breathing" he said, "if it gets any lower, then he may fall unconcious and we might have trouble getting him back"

Hermione nodded, gently squeezing Draco's hand. He felt so cold and she was scared. She didn't know what she would do if he died. Over the past few days they had gotten so close, and now this had happened. She swallowed, trying to hold back her tears and look strong. She couldn't believe Lucius would do this, his own Father tried to kill him. Did he really care so much about his reputation?

"Madam, we're here. We need you to let go of his hand so that we can get him out" the man said, watching Hermione closely.

"Sorry" she said, she gave his hand one last squeeze and then let go. She stumbled out of the ambulance and followed the men into the main reception. A group of nurses came up, dragging a bed with them. The two men slowly placed Draco onto the bed and then he was whisked off, through a pair of doors and out of sight.

"Where's he going?" Hermione shrieked, trying to follow them through the doors. A nurse caught her arm "You can't go back there" she said, "he needs surgery straight away. He has internal bleeding. Please, sit down here. As soon as I get news I will tell you"

She pulled Hermione over to a small sofa gently pushing her into it. "I will be back with news, please stay here" and with that she disappeared through the doors.

Hermione put her head into her hands and cried until she felt as though she couldn't cry anymore. A few hours later the nurse returned.

Hermione jumped up "How is he?" she said, trying to keep calm.

"We managed to stop the bleeding. He's stable. Once he wakes up you can go and see him" She said, smiling. Hermione fell back onto the sofa, relieved. The nurse came and sat by her "What happened to him?" she asked, "You never told us"

Hermione looked at her hands, they were still shaking slightly. "He got attacked" she murmered. "He saved me" she said, her voice wobbling slightly.

"Well," The nurse began, "He's very lucky to be alive. You got him in quickly. Any slower and he'd be dead by now. Do you want a drink?"

Hermione nodded, "Just a tea please"

The nurse returned with a drink and carefully passed it to Hermione, she then went back though the doors. Hermione sipped her drink slowly, she could calm down now, he was alive.

The nurse returned and sat by her "He's awake. Do you want to see him?"

"Yes please," Hermione said.

She followed the nurse down a corridor and into a little room to the left. Draco was the only patient there, and his face lit up when he saw Hermione. She ran over to him and carefully hugged him, she felt her eyes starting to water again but didn't care. "I thought I lost you" she cried.

"Hermione, Calm down. I'm fine." He murmered, his voice was still weak.

She leaned forward and kissed his forehead, "You nearly died" she whispered.

"Nearly. But you saved me" He said, attempting to smirk but flinching instead at the pain he was in.

Hermione grabbed a chair and sat next to the bed, she took hold of Draco's hand again "I guess we're even now" She smiled weakly.

oOo

**Malfoy Manor**

A loud CRACK was heard and out of nowhere a small house elf appeared wearing a small pillowcase over his body. He looked up at Lucius.

"Well," Lucius said, "Where are they?"

"They just left Las Vegas, Sir. They said they were going to New York next" The house elf replied.

"You know where they are now, Lucius" A voice from across the room said, Lucius turned to look at Yaxley. "You can go and Kill you're traitor of a Son" He sneered. "Try and redeem some dignity"

Lucius turned back towards the house elf "Where about?"

"The four seasons in Manhattan, Sir" the elf squeaked.

"Very well, You can go Kayfoy" Lucius said, and with another loud CRACK the elf disappeared.

Lucius didn't look at Yaxley again, he made his way over to the large dining table and flopped down into a chair, running his hand through his light blonde hair.

"Lucius" Yaxley started "if you don't kill him, I will" He sat down opposite Lucius, watching him carefully. "He's a failure to the Dark Lord, and one of the reasons why he failed"

"I know what must be done" Lucius replied quietly. "And I must be the one to do it"

He got up slowly at last glancing at Yaxley. "Not a word to Narcissa about this" He snarled, He hated Yaxley and he hated the fact that he was bossing him about, in his own house! But he had no choice, Voldemort may be gone but the Death Eaters were still angry and they wanted revenge. Besides Lucius had a plan.

Yaxley nodded, got up and said "Tonight, Lucius. Or I will" then he Disapparated.

oOo

"Are you coming up to bed Lucius" Narcissa said softly.

"Not yet, " Lucius replied " I have some unfinished business to take care off"

She looked as though she was about to ask what the unfinished business was, but changed her mind halfway through. She nodded at him, and made her way upstairs.

Lucius got out a piece of parchment and a quill and wrote a note to Draco. He then found Hershel, attached the note and then watched as Hershel flew away into the setting Sun, getting smaller and smaller.

He waited till 5am, dozing in and out of consciousness. When the clock chimed 5, he got up.

Grabbing his travelling cloak and cane he made his way out of the Manor, he didn't want Narcissa to hear him Apparating. He stopped infront of the fountains, took one last glance at the Manor and at Draco's old bedroom window, then Disapparated.

He arrived at Times Square just after Midnight, and found a corner to stand in and wait. Lucius knew the only way to redeem himself was to kill his Son. But, did he really care about his reputation? Didn't he want out? He saw Draco across the road, and felt his heart sink. Wasn't the reason he kicked Draco out was so the Death Eaters wouldn't find him? And now look, his Son looked at him as though he was nothing.

He was also with that Granger girl, Great. He wanted Draco to come alone. He saw Draco make his way over and led them both down the alleyway. He knew he had to do this, if he didn't Yaxley would. Yaxley would do it in the worst way possible as well making him pay for letting the Death Eaters down.

Halfway down the alleyway he made up his mind, and spun round to stun Draco. He watched as his Son let out a gasp, then fall as though in slow motion, to the ground. Hating himself, Lucius unstunned Draco and yelled "_Crucio!" _he watched as his Son writhed in agony, seeing his Son look up at him with a look of pure desperation killed him inside.

After Draco fell for the last time, Lucius stood over him. He knew he was still alive, he could see his chest moving. He didn't use Avada Kedavra on him, because he never wanted Draco dead. Instead he used a spell that would puncture his kidneys, and cause bleeding. Nothing St' Mungo's couldn't sort out straight away. Besides, He was with Granger, she was clever, she'd sort him out. He couldn't take his eyes of his Son, Draco was lying there like a crumpled puppet. Feeling tears start to appear he said, "You're a failure" out loud, whilst under his breath he said _Im sorry_ and then Disapparated back to the Manor. He knew Yaxley would of followed him and checked that he carried it through, and indeed once he arrived back, he saw Yaxley stood by the fountains, watching the water glisten in the moonlight.

"He's dead" Lucius said, avoiding Yaxley's eye contact.

"I know, I saw what you did." Yaxley sneered "Shame you didn't kill the Mudblood too"

Lucius didn't reply, He gave Yaxley a swift nod and stalked into the Manor, tears slowly running down his face.


	8. A Lovers Paradise

**This is dedicated to BeccatheGryffindorPrincess, who's Birthday it was yesterday. Happy Birthday and I hope you enjoy it :) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. JK Does**

Draco had to stay in hospital for a week, until his body had healed enough. He still had bandages around his waist and the area was still sore and tender, but after seven days of looking at pale sickly covered walls, he wanted to get out. Besides, Hermione had made a small pepper up potion that will help his pain, even though it tasted disgusting. He was currently sat in bed, reading a Muggle magazine about Cars, when Hermione came in. He looked up to see her holding, of all things, grapes.

"Why have you brought me grapes?" He smirked, taking the bag she offered him.

"Because," She started, sitting next to his bed, "That's what you bring people in hospital" She shrugged.

He took a grape out the bag and studied it. "What time can we leave?"

He asked, slowly taking a bite out of the grape.

"Whenever you're ready" Hermione said, helping herself to a grape.

"Now" he muttered, putting the bag to one side and swinging his legs out of bed. "Do you have another dose of that potion?"

Hermione fumbled in her bag, and found a small bottle of purple liquid. She took the lid of and handed it to Draco. He pinched his nose, tipped his head back and downed the potion in one.

"Disgusting" He groaned, handing the bottle back to Hermione.

Getting out of bed, he collected his clothes and scattered magazines and chucked them all in a bag. Hermione watched him to make sure he was ok, he was still a bit wobbly on his feet, but since he'd taken the potion he'd gotten a lot better.

Draco noticed Hermione watching him and stopped in the middle of packing his fresh socks, he walked over to her and placed his hand on her cheek, "Enjoying the view are we?" he soothed, his voice low. "I never did thank you for saving my life"

He gently brought his lips to her neck, and kissed down towards her collarbone. "What are we doing today, by the way?" He murmured.

"I thought about moving on, I know we planned to stay here for a while but after what just happened, I think we need to go somewhere peaceful and recover a bit" Hermione answered

"Oh, like where?" Draco said, resuming his packing of socks and other objects that seem to have wandered halfway round the room.

"Well, I thought maybe, Hawaii?" Hermione asked timidly.

Draco looked up at her "White beaches, crystal clear seas, sounds good to me" he smiled.

"Good, well we're be leaving tomorrow at 12am, stopping in Seattle for a few hours and then carrying on to Honolulu, Hawaii"

They spent their last night at the hotel and then the following morning hailed a cab and made their way to the Airport. Draco was starting to recover, he was now taking the pepper up potion every four hours, and the soreness was starting to subside. Hermione kept her eye on him the whole time they were in the airport. It was busy and she and Draco kept getting separated.

"If one more person pushes me-" he muttered, glaring at a family who had just pushed past him. "I swear to God, I will hex them into oblivion"

Hermione grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him towards her, putting her arm cautiously around his waist she said "Try and stay close yeah?"

"These Muggles have no manners!" He whispered angrily.

They made their way towards the nearest screen and scanned the long list for their first flight, "There it is" Draco drawled, pointing at a flight near the bottom of the list.

"Great, we've got two hours to spare" Hermione said, looking around anxiously. She didn't like being in a crowded place, especially after what happened. What if more Death Eaters turned up? She glanced over at Draco who was looking positively bored, then looked back up at the screen, pretending to study it. The world was a crazy place, she thought. Voldemort was gone, so she assumed the danger was gone too. But no, Death Eaters will not rest until Draco is dead and the debt repaid.

"Hermione" a faint voice said, somewhere in the distance. Hermione ignored it, still lost in her thoughts.

"HERMIONE" The voice louder now, a lot louder. She jumped and looked around, Draco was there staring at her.

"Yes?" She said, looking around frantically, the sound of his voice brought her back to earth with a thud.

"I said, I'm hungry. Lets go and get some food, Or do you want to stand here like a lemon for two hours?" he replied impatiently.

"Yes! Of course! Food - Lets go" She said hastily, scanning the room looking for somewhere to eat. She spotted a Little Chef across the room, grabbed hold of Draco's hand and made her way over to it. They sat down at a table in the corner. It was quieter here, but still Hermione didn't feel safe. She kept her eyes on the crowd whilst Draco went to get some Breakfast. He returned shortly with a tray covered in different food. There was a plate with eggs, bacon, sausages and hash browns on, then a plate to the side of that with two muffins on and then another plate with doughnuts.

"Hungry are you?" she said, eyebrow raised glaring at all the food.

Draco didn't reply, just nodded and placed a large forkful of food into his mouth.

At ten to twelve, they started to board the plane. As they walked through the tunnel to the plane doors, Draco looked at Hermione with a worried expression.

"Are you SURE this is safe?" he said

"Yes, you've been on two planes in the last few weeks, and each time, you ask this same question" Hermione whispered impatiently.

"Just checking, it doesn't look safe that's all" he said, but noticing the expression on Hermione's face, he shut up.

Their seats were right in the middle of the plane, over the wings which meant they had slightly more leg room. Draco sat down and stretched his feet out, unfortunately for him a family with two small kids sat behind them. Halfway through the flight, the kids decided they were bored and that kicking the chair in front of them would be amusing. Their parents had fallen asleep and left them to their own devices much to Draco's annoyance.

"If they kick my chair one more ti-" he said, but got interrupted by his chair being kicked once again. He spun around and glared at the little kid,

"If you kick my chair again, I will hex your legs together and you'd have to hop off this tin can" He hissed. The kid glared at him but didn't resume in kicking the chair, Draco turned back round and lay his head against the chair again.

Hermione was looking out the window at the clouds whizzing by underneath her. She wanted to talk about Lucius again with Draco, but every time she brought it up he would hastily change the subject.

19 hours later and they had arrived in Honolulu, the sky was a cloudless crystal blue and the heat was unbearable. Hermione had managed to find a completely wizard hotel complex and booked a large room with two king sized beds. Their room was cool, the air conditioning was up high which made it heaven to them. Out of the windows they could see the sea and the white beaches. They could hear the faint cries of seagulls flying over the hotel. Draco dropped the suitcases to one side and flopped down onto his bed. Sighing deeply he looked up at Hermione and said

"This is the life" before flopping his head back down again.

Hermione walked over to her own bed and sat down, it was soft and squishy. She felt as though she could just fall asleep but it was only morning, so she got up and sat next to Draco on his bed. He hadn't moved since they had arrived at the room. Hermione prodded him gently and he opened his eyes to look at her.

"Fancy going to the beach for a bit" She asked.

"Sure" he said, he slowly pushed himself up, his hair had gone all over the place whilst he was lying down and now resembled a mop.

He got up and walked over to his suitcase. Dragging it back towards his bed, he opened it and pulled out a pair of shorts. Then, not minding whether or not Hermione was looking, he started to unbutton his shirt, he pulled it off and chucked it onto the bed. Then he began pulling his trousers off and quickly put the shorts on. Hermione had gone into the bathroom and locked the door, so he knocked gently

"Hermione, are you coming out?" he said

"In a minute, Go on without me" Hermione replied thickly, through the door.

Hermione could hear Draco open the outer door and leave the room, she slowly unlocked the door and looked out. Seeing that it was indeed deserted, she ran over to her suitcase and dragged it back into the bathroom, quickly locking the door behind her.

She carefully opened the lid and looked through, finally finding the thing she was looking for. Her bikini. It was another object Ginny had forced her to buy. _It'd look great with your figure _She had said, _All the guys will be looking at you, trust me. _She held it at arms length, cringing slightly. She has never worn anything like this before. She was used to wearing big, baggy jumpers or shirts that covered, well, everything. This, by the look of it, barely covered anything. How could she wear this in front of Draco? She felt her face flush at the thought of it, but had no choice. It was too hot to wear a t shirt.

Five minutes later she was looking at her reflection, the bikini fit but oh my, it showed of so much more of her body then she would of liked. Taking a deep breath and mentally bracing herself, she unlocked the bathroom door and made her way onto the beach.

The beach was deserted apart from a few couples dotted up and down. She noticed, with a small jolt, that she was the only one wearing a bikini. All the other women were wearing swimsuits and Hermione made a mental note to kill Ginny once she got home. She saw Draco sat on a sun lounger drinking juice from a coconut looking object. He was facing away from her and she was glad. Not looking at him she walked determinedly towards the water, the sand was hot and burned the under sides of her feet. She reached the water and cautiously dipped her toe in, the water was luke warm and clear, oh so clear. She could see little fish swimming around in the deeper parts of the sea. She walked in deeper relishing in the coolness, her feet felt soothed and for a moment she completely forgot about her embarrassment at what she was wearing.

She felt a pair of arms grab her from behind, and wrap themselves tightly around her body.

"You should be made illegal, with a body like that" A familiar voice soothed from over her shoulder.

She shivered as she felt Draco's lip touch her neck gently, "I look hideous" she replied, flushing deep crimson.

"Mmm, No you don't. You look hot, almost too hot" He said, and without warning he picked her up and chucked her into the sea.

She landed with a loud splash, shaking her head, she looked at Draco who was laughing at her. "Aren't you going to join me?" She said, she felt better now that her body was under the water.

"I was enjoying the view" he smirked. Slowly he made his way out to join Hermione, who was gently bobbing against the waves. He swam out to her and once again, wrapped his arms round her waist. Leaning towards her he gently bit her bottom lip and she let out a small involuntary moan, which of course he heard. He smiled and pressed his lips against hers, his kiss was hot, passionate and fiery. The heat from his kiss and the coolness from the water made Hermione feel as though she was living in a dream. Eventually they broke away but remained close to each other.

After they had had enough in the sea, they made their way back onto the beach, Draco ordered two more coconut drinks and then they both relaxed against the sun loungers, talking about stuff that happened at Hogwarts and wondering what other people were doing these days.

That evening Draco motioned Hermione to take a walk along the beach with him. The Sun was slowly setting and the sky was a deep orange. Hermione was wearing the necklace Draco had given her, this had been the first perfect day in a long time and she wanted to cherish it. They walked slowly, hand in hand not saying anything, just watching the Sun slowly going down.

Draco turned to look at her "It's been a nice day today hasn't it?" He said, gazing straight into her eyes. He always adored her eyes, they were a warm caramel brown, and filled him with warmth. Something he lacked back at home with his Father.

"It's been amazing" Hermione replied, sighing happily. "Who would of thought we would have a day like this" She remembered back to the war, and feeling at the time that life would never be back to normal. Too much was lost in that war, and now even months later it still burned in her memory. But today felt like the first nice day in a long time. She felt as though she was 13 again, but instead of being with Harry and Ron, she was with Draco. Lifes a funny thing she thought to herself.

Draco stopped, and seemed to be thinking deeply about something. Then without warning, he turned towards Hermione and dropped down onto one knee. Hermione stood there, speechless while Draco pulled a box out of his suit. The box was small, made of red velvet with a gold ribbon running around it, he opened it slowly and inside was a ring. It was gold with little diamonds set into the band and sat in the middle was a huge diamond surrounded by small red and green crystals.

"Hermione, I know it may be too soon, but it feels right. Will you - Will you -" He paused for a moment, before smiling "Marry me?"

**I hope you enjoyed it :)**


	9. Flashbacks and Celebrations

**A/N I just wanted to say thanks to all the people reviewing and adding me to favorites. It does mean so much to me. I am updating quite alot at the moment due to no job anymore (I resigned not sacked ;)) hence me spending like 10 hours on each chapter. I'm very fussy so I change stuff a lot, leave it then come back and change some more until I'm satisfied. I'm thinking of doing a prequel to this one next, when they're still at Hogwarts.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Although I wish I owned Draco Malfoy :))**

**Enjoy**

Silence fell over them, Hermione stared at Draco with a look of pure shock on her face.

"Marry - you?" She stuttered, it was funny this was the first time he had heard her stutter. He would laugh if he wasn't feeling so damn embarrassed, kneeling on one knee like a total moron. Why did he have to ask her? Of course she'd say no, wasn't she with Weaselbee? God, He never actually asked her if she had a boyfriend. This was awkward, and they had only properly known each other for a few weeks.

"Um - You know it doesn - doesn't matter" he said, hastily stowing the box back into his pocket. He stood up and brushed the sand off his knee avoiding Hermione's eye contact. He wanted to slap himself, Hermione wouldn't date him! Ah, what a loser he was.

"Do you want to head back?" She said, avoiding his eye contact like he was avoiding hers. She had flushed again, the same deep crimson. Was he that bad he thought to himself? Of course he was, he was a Malfoy after all. He called her, Potter and Weaselbee names for the past seven years. He wanted nothing more than to Apparate as far away as possible.

He noticed Hermione had started walking back towards the hotel slowly and he hurried to catch her up.

"I'm sorry" He muttered, keeping his eyes fixed on the sand before him. It looked almost luminous now that the Sun had gone down, the moonlight was reflecting off of it making it look slightly like snow. It made him remember a Christmas back at Hogwarts when him Crabbe and Goyle had a snowball fight. It was the first time he had properly noticed Hermione.

_Flashback_

_Draco, Crabbe and Goyle were down by the great lake. Heavy snow had fallen last night which caused havoc for the professors trying to patrol the grounds. Draco had grabbed a large clump of snow in his gloved hand, he took aim and fired, resulting in it hitting Goyle right in the back of the head._

_Goyle had spun round, grunted and tried to throw a snowball back, which missed and hit Professor Snape in the face. Snape wasn't amused, at all. He stalked towards Goyle and was about to give him a detention when Draco picked up another snowball and chucked it at the Professors head. It hit the target, melting and making Snape's hair look, if possible, even more greasier. _

_Before he could do anything, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle legged into the Great Hall. Inside he saw Potty, Weasel and the Granger girl sat at one end of the table, their heads were bowed and it looked like they were whispering frantically. _

_Granger was wearing a woolly jumper, as was Ron and Harry. Draco didn't know why but he couldn't take his eyes of her. He knew he was meant to hate her, but he didn't. She looked up and him and scowled, which he returned. _

"_What are you looking at Draco?" Pansy said, sitting close to him and laying her hand upon his leg. He looked at her and shook his leg, irritated. He couldn't stand Parkinson, she was shallow and manipulative. Even more so then he was._

_He looked back at Hermione, but she didn't look up again, and for once in his life he wished he wasn't a Slytherin, and for once he really did envy Potter and Weasel. _

_End Flashback_

Tears slowly ran down Draco's face, he tried to brush them away without Hermione noticing but it was too late. She took a tissue out of her pocket and gently wiped his eyes. He missed Hogwarts, he missed how easy life was back then. He even missed Crabbe and Goyle. He visited Crabbe's grave every now and then, but Goyle, he never saw anymore. He wanted no more to do with Draco after he turned against Voldemort.

Draco flinched at the memory;

_Flashback_

_Draco and Goyle were sat in the Slytherin common room. It was a few hours since Crabbe fell into the fire, and they were both in shock. Draco felt like a part of him was missing, he had known Crabbe since they were younger. Hell, even before Hogwarts. They used to go over each others house and ride their broomsticks, and now he was gone. Draco sniffed, determined not to cry in front of Goyle. _

_Goyle stood up and walked over to Draco "It's your fault he's dead" He grunted, pulling out his wand._

"_Wha - What do you mean, Goyle?" Draco replied, eyeing the wand nervously. Goyle could do the Crucio curse well and Draco knew that. _

"_You should of let Potter be killed! But you didn't. I've seen the way you look at that Mudblood as well. Like her do you? She's all your fit for these days, you traitor. Whose side are you really on?" He growled angrily. Draco was in shock, Goyle never spoke like this before, he had been the quiet one. He also never doubted Draco, until now. _

"_I'm on yours!" Draco yelled, "What's wrong with you. Look, we're both sad about Crabbe but we shouldn't be tearing each other apart" He withdrew his own wand, staring into Goyles dark eyes._

"_I think you're a traitor, just like you're scummy parents" and without warning he yelled "CRUCIO!"_

_Draco fell to the floor, twitching violently. Pain seared through every vein in his body, it felt as though everything was on fire. He had felt the Crucio curse before from Voldemort, but this, this was worse. There was so much anger in Goyle that it streamed through his wand and seemed to intensify the curse. _

"_STOP, STOP, PLEASE!" He screamed, his whole body shuddering now as though he was having 500,000 volts running through him. _

_Goyle carried on for a few seconds more then stopped. He stood over Draco and watched him with a look of pure hatred on his face. He bent over and studied Draco, then spat in his face. "Go run along to daddy" he sneered, and then he turned and left the common room. That was the last Draco saw of him._

_End Flashback_

"Draco?"

Draco shook his head, he had stopped walking and obviously had a look on his face that was scaring Hermione. He blinked trying to get rid of the images running through his mind; Goyle looking at him with a look of pure hatred. Crabbe falling into the fire.

He shook his head again and slowly the images dissolved back into the depths of his mind. Hermione walked up to him "What's the matter?" She whispered, scared.

"Nothing, I'm - I'm fine" He lied, attempting to smile but failing. He was trying to run from his past but it always, always had a way of finding him.

"Oh um well, I just wanted to tell you, My answers Yes" she said, watching him carefully.

"Sorry?" Draco looked at Hermione confused. It took him a second and then it all clicked back into place. He had proposed tonight! Of course. Wait, what.. Rewind. He looked her in the eyes and they looked as though they were smiling back him.

"You - you said yes?" he said slowly, as though unable to believe his ears.

Hermione smiled, a proper smile. "Yes" she said. Draco smiled back, he took the box back out of his pocket and opened it carefully. He removed the ring and placed it gently onto Hermione's finger. "Did you notice" He began, "That it has Gryffindors and Slytherins colours on it?"

Hermione looked at the ring and the red and green crystals seemed to twinkle back at her. "Yes" she replied, "Sometimes things are meant to be together" Suddenly she had a look of pure dead on her face. Draco spun round to see who was there, but no one was. He turned back and looked at Hermione curiously

"What is it?" he said, wondering what had made her look so horrified.

"I don't want to tell Ron, he's going to be awful!"

Draco laughed, "Ouch thanks" he said, pulling Hermione close and kissing her softly on the lips. "Leave weasel bee to me" he murmured.

They walked back towards the hotel, laughing and joking. Draco still saw the images faintly, but tonight was a night to celebrate not worry about the past. They reached the hotel lobby and ordered two butterbeers. Hermione decided to get the news out the way as quick as possible. She had hired an owl from the hotel to send a letter to Harry, Ron and Ginny. Draco had told her to wait until they were back in Britain but she was too excited. Sitting at a table she pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill from her bag.

"I don't know how to say it" She said, sipping her butterbeer.

"Give it here" Draco said, pulling the parchment and quill towards him. The night was silent for a moment apart from the quill making small scratching noises. After a while he gave it back to her. She looked down and read:

_Dear Potty, Weasley and Weaselbee,_

_Just wanted to let you know, I have proposed to Hermione and she practically jumped through the roof and said yes (hard luck Weaselbee). _

_That is all,_

_Draco Malfoy_

Hermione giggled. "You can't send that! Ron will never talk to me" She squealed.

"Is that a bad thing?" Draco replied, smirking, resulting in Hermione thumping him. "Ow!" He cried, rubbing his arm.

She took the quill and crossed out Draco's writing making improvements here and there. Finally she was satisfied,

_Dear Harry, Ron and Ginny,_

_You'll never guess what? Draco asked me to marry him! Eeeee!_

_And I said Yes! Isn't that great news? _

_Ginny, we are going to have to sort out a date for a Hen do, and the same for the Stag do. _

_I am so excited!_

_Love, Hermione_

_P.s I miss you all so much. _

**_That's where I leave it for now, the next few chapters will be amusing ;) I think Im going to do the Hen and Stag do next and then move onto the next location :) Some other familiar faces will be returning in the next chapter ;) and it's one not to be missed. Thanks for reading, I do hope you enjoyed it. _**


	10. Old FriendsNew Secrets

**This is a small chapter on Lucius and Narcissa. Sev is also in it because, in my world, he's still alive. Just in hiding cause the Death Eaters think he's dead. I wanted to put this chapter in so that you can see more about Lucius. He turned into a good guy in my story (even though he beat his Son up) and he will get revenge on Yaxley soon. **

**It will go back to Draco and Hermione in the next chapter :) but will keep flicking back to him as the story progresses. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Malfoy Manor**

Lucius was sat at the grand, old oak, dining table. He was waiting for Kayfoy to return with news and was starting to get agitated. A loud CRACK from behind made him jump. Lucius stood quickly, walking towards the fireplace where the elf was standing.

"Well?" He snarled, impatiently.

"He is alive, Master" The elf replied, cringing away from Lucius slightly. He knew of Lucius's bad temper and always tried to stand out of reach of his master.

"You are quite sure?" He asked urgently.

"Yes Master, they took him to the hospital, I followed them and watched as they operated on him. He's now out, and has gone somewhere else with that Mudblood girl" Kayfoy said.

Lucius was relieved, he really hoped Draco had pulled through. He was after all, his only Son. Yaxley was satisfied that Lucius tortured him enough and then killed him properly. He still didn't like Lucius but some of the debt was repaid, and Lucius was allowed out of the Manor.

"You can go but keep following them. If anything happens let me know straight away" He said to the elf, and with another loud CRACK the elf disappeared.

"You must be so relieved" A smooth voice sounded behind him, he turned around and saw Severus stood there. Severus was another secret Lucius was hiding, he was meant to of died on that fateful night months ago, but he didn't. Lucius found him and brought him back to the Manor, he was near death so Lucius called one of the top healers from St Mungo's to come directly to the Manor and tend to his old friend.

It took weeks of painful potions and hard nights, but Severus slowly pulled through. He was now however, a secret that the Death Eaters must not find out. Lucius had let him stay in the Manor with his own personal healer.

Lucius now knew what it felt like to be a double agent, lying to the Death Eaters and helping someone who betrayed Voldemort in the worst way possible. It was Severus's idea to follow Draco, and he also told Lucius how to make Draco unconcious and look dead, without actually killing him. If it wasn't for Severus, Draco and Lucius would both be dead right now.

"I am," Lucius replied, smiling faintly.

Lucius didn't want to be part of the Death Eaters any more, but what could he do? There were still so many of them existing and just him and Narcissa against them. Severus was still too weak to fight. He couldn't go to the Ministry, as they knew what he was really like now. He felt trapped, most nights he spent alone crying. Wishing he could go back in time and start again.

He sighed, at least his Son was safe, even though he still had that Granger girl around him. _He'd be dead if he didn't _A voice inside his head said. _She saved his life and you know it. _He hated listening to reason, and shook his head slowly to shut it up.

"He has always looked up to you, Lucius" Severus said, "Even at school he always spoke highly of you"

"What about now, I bet he loathes me. His own Father attempting to kill him" He sighed again, and sat back down with his head in his hands. Severus sat next to him and awkwardly placed a hand on Lucius's shoulder.

"If you didn't do It, Yaxley would and Draco would be lying stone cold in a morgue right now" Severus murmured.

"Do what?"

Lucius and Severus jumped and looked round to see Narcissa standing in the doorway. She was looking gaunt, her blonde hair was hanging limply around her shoulders, her eyes had dark shadows below them and her skin seemed paler, more sickly looking. She walked over to Lucius

"Well?" She demanded.

Severus and Lucius exchanged looks, something Narcissa picked up on.

"What are you two talking about?" She snarled, impatiently.

"Um, Nothing dear" Lucius muttered, avoiding her eye contact. Narcissa was good at Legilimens and Lucius didn't want her seeing what happened. She threw him a dirty look and turned to Severus.

"Are you going to tell me?" She said.

Severus hesitated, She was Draco's mother and had a right to know what was happening, he glanced at Lucius, who gave a small nod and said "Yaxley wants Draco dead"

Narcissa paled, if possible, even more. She stumbled towards a chair and sat down hastily. "No, No he can't. We disowned Draco, isn't that enough! We did what he told us to, he promised to let Draco live" she cried. Severus pulled a tissue out of his robes and handed it to her.

"We're not going to let Draco die" He whispered "Did I let him die in the war? No. Will I let him die now? No. Me and Lucius have it sorted"

She turned to look at him, tears running down her face. "You promise?" she whispered.

"I promise" He patted her on the shoulder and stood up, "I must go and take some more potion" He said, and with a last look at Lucius, he left the room.

Lucius stood up and walked over to Narcissa, he crouched down in front of her and said gently

"Don't worry about Draco, he's fine" He took the tissue from her hand and gently wiped the tears away from her eyes. "Me and Severus are watching over him, but don't mention anything to Yaxley" He said, "He thinks Draco's dead"

Lucius explained about the other night, about how Yaxley followed him to New York and made sure he killed Draco. Lucius also told her about pretending to kill Draco so that Yaxley would be satisfied. "So you see, Yaxley thinks Draco is dead. So whenever he's around you need to pretend that Draco actually is dead because if he finds out that Draco is alive he will hunt him down and torture him"

Narcissa looked scared "Lucius he will kill you for lying to him!" She stuttered, tears rolling down her face again

"I don't care, Draco is my main priority right now" He said quietly and hugged his wife.


	11. All Over?

**Eeee I'm pumping out chapters at the moment. This story is taking over my life right now. Which Is good I guess, it means I'm updating quickly. Please don't think I'm rushing this out or don't care, I do, I'm spending hours on this (Mainly through the night) and I read it back about 10 times before I publish it. **

**I wanted to thank **_**Comix and Co **_**for giving me reviews, it does mean so much to me. This chapter will be in two parts, The first is Hermione and Draco, the second is back with Lucius. The proper action will start soon.**

**I had to change some ideas as they weren't going to work so as such had to change "Humor" to "Hurt/Comfort" There will be Humor but that won't be until 2-3 chapters. I had a better idea for a plot, so as such have changed it.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Zilch. Zero.**

Hermione woke up the next morning to a series of soft "_Tap Tap Tap" _noises outside her window. She opened one eye blearily and saw a handsome barn owl sat outside her window. _They've replied! _She thought. Forgetting all about her tiredness, she jumped out of bed and raced across the room to the window. Opening it gently, so as not to wake Draco, she let the owl in. It swooped low and landed in the middle of her bed, in its beak were a bundle of letters. She took the letters and the owl ruffled its feathers and flew back out of the window.

The letters were from Ron, Harry and Ginny. She took Ron's first and opened it, scowling slightly as she read it through.

_Hermione,_

_Are you out of your freaking mind? I thought Krum was the worst but you have just proved me wrong! Malfoy! Ferret face Malfoy! You CAN NOT seriously be engaged to him. Please tell me this is a sick joke between the two of you. _

_You were meant to be on holiday and taking him with you cause he's too much hassle back here, but nooo, you end up getting engaged to the pillock. _

_I'm not happy 'Mione but I guess it's your life and if he makes you happy then - well no, I'll never like him. _

_Ron W_

What did she expect? She knew Ron would flip out about this, and he proved her correct. She put his down to one side and picked up Harry's letter.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Me and Ron were meant to write our letters together, but he's gone and locked himself in his room. _

_I just wanted to say Congrat's. Me and Malfoy have never got on (as you already know) but if he's really changed and is making you happy then I guess I'm ok with it._

_By the way, we heard about the attack. Is Malfoy alright? _

_See you when you get back,_

_Harry._

Hermione smiled. Harry had always supported her in her choices, even if the choice was his ex enemy. Finally, she turned to Ginny's letter.

_Hermione, _

_I am SO excited. As soon as you get back we have to arrange the Hen do. Where do you plan on having it? Maybe Hogwarts?_

_Ron's not happy (He never is) I dunno why he cares though, he's back with Lavender Brown. _

_Please come back soon, it's not the same without you._

_Love,_

_Ginny._

Hermione laughed, she couldn't help herself. Ron was back with Lavender? Now she really was glad to be away from home. Looking at the clock she saw it was only 8am, no wonder Draco was still asleep. She got up and walked over to his bed, he was under his covers, curled up into a little ball. She smiled, then pounced on top of him, she heard him let out a faint oopf under the covers and laughed.

Without warning she found herself on the floor, looking up she saw Draco smirk at her and then hide back under the covers. She got up and walked towards her bed and grabbed her wand. Pointing it at the mound on the bed she whispered "_Levicorpus" _and watched as Draco flew into the air by his ankle.

"What the -" He spluttered, glaring at Hermione

"Good Morning!" She grinned, and muttered the counter curse. He fell to the bed with a thump.

He glanced at the clock on the bedside table and groaned. "Hermione, it's 8am. Why are you awake?"

"I got replies back from Ron, Harry and Ginny" Hermione replied, picking up the letters and chucking them to Draco.

He slowly read each one, smirking here and there. Once he reached Ginny's he looked up shocked. "He's back with Lavender?" he said in horror. Even Draco, a Slytherin, knew what Lavender Brown was like.

"Yes" Hermione giggled.

Draco got up, stretching slowly then suddenly, he ran at Hermione and tackled her to the floor. He picked her up and chucked her onto the bed, then strutted over and sat next to her. She thought he was going kiss her, he was getting closer and closer his lips slowly parting the closer he got. But instead, he grabbed a pillow and whacked her around the head with it. She sat there shell shocked for a minute, staring at Draco before a sly smile played onto her lips and she too picked up a pillow and hit it against Draco's perfect blonde hair.

"My hair!" He squealed. "Right, this is war!"

Hermione seemed to agree too, for she ran out of the room and locked herself in the bathroom, panting heavily. She could hear Draco outside her room, "Hermione, come out or I'll blast this door of it's hinges" he drawled. Hermione could tell he was smirking at her being locked away in a small bathroom.

"I'll count to ten, and then the door is gone" he said, his voice muffled.

Hermione stared at the door, surely he wouldn't blast it open? But then again, this is Draco Malfoy. She backed up against the sink, wondering whether to come out or not.

"10" He said, and a loud bang was heard. The door fell away in a cloud of smoke, and on the other side was Draco, his wand held aloft and a huge smirk on his face.

"That's cheating" Hermione said, trying to back up further. She didn't know what he would do now, and she didn't trust him. One bit.

"Since when did I play fair?" He said, walking towards Hermione.

"What are you going to do?" She said, noticing his wand was still held up.

He grinned and pushed her against the sink more, he chucked his wand to one side and wrapped his arms around Hermione. Then he lifted up her and placed her on the edge of the sink. She whimpered softly and before she knew it, his lips were on hers. It wasn't passion it was ferocity, but it felt good. He pushed her further into the sink and she had to wrap her arms around his neck to stop herself from falling into the middle, she bit his bottom lip and he let out a small moan, then he took his lips off hers and moved towards her neck, biting it gently. She whimpered again but didn't push him away. He moved his mouth back to hers and kissed her again, this time with pure passion. His lips were hot, furious and in total control. When he finally pulled away, they were both panting slightly. Hermione had gone deep red, but she couldn't look anywhere apart from Draco's eyes. He gazed back into hers and they were both lost for a minute, in a whole different world. He smiled a small, dangerous smile, fire was still burning in his eyes and he said, in a low voice

"I think I win" and without another word he picked her up and carried her back towards the bedroom.

**XXx**

**Malfoy Manor**

Lucius and Severus were sat in Lucius's office. They were both tired after staying up all night tweaking the plan.

"Are you sure you're up to this?" Lucius asked, eyeing Severus with concern.

"Yes, I told you. I'm fine" He replied impatiently.

"It's just if this goes wrong, you'll end up dead along with me"

Severus smiled, or at least he tried too. He was never good at smiling, the most he could do was a snide smirk. No wonder most of the students were scared of him. He sighed and gave up trying to smile.

"Lucius, I could of died trying to protect Draco the first time, and I still made an Unbreakable Vow to Narcissa. Why would I back out now?" He answered, rubbing his head.

He still got headaches, and he still had the puncture wounds from Nagini's bite. He picked up his wand and made a small mirror zoom towards him. Holding it towards his neck he saw two little bite marks. God, he thought. It looks like I've been bitten by vampires. He did his half smile/half sneer again and put the mirror down.

Lucius was studying him, as though wondering whether or not he was legitimate. Deciding he was, he looked back down at the paper he was studying. "Ok," he said, "so how many Death Eaters still exist?"

Severus thought for a second, "About 12, give or take"

"And we know Yaxley is the leader in all of this" Lucius said quietly. "So it's Yaxley we need to take out first"

Severus nodded, "Have the order replied yet?" he asked.

Voldemort might be gone, but the Order of The Phoenix still existed to round up all the remaining Death Eaters. It was hard though, they had all gone into hiding around the world.

Lucius shook his head "No, I fear that they don't believe me, or feel that I am lulling them into a false sense of security."

Severus sighed, "Should I go and see them?" he asked.

"No, it's too risky, if someone sees you. I guess it's down to us two to get Yaxley" Lucius said, he picked up his wand, flicked it and a small bottle of Gin flew into his hand. He poured it into two glasses and passed one to Severus.

"To Draco" said Lucius, holding his glass up.

"To Draco" Severus copied, gently tapping his glass against Lucius's

_CRACK_

Kayfoy appeared in front of Lucius, a scared expression on his face. Lucius felt his heart pound "What is it? Why are you here? What's the matter?" he said urgently.

"I was following Draco like you told me too, and everything was fine. But then-" He broke off, starting to cry. Lucius grabbed the front of his pillowcase and shook him. "What? Tell me now!" he shouted.

"I saw him sir, Yaxley. He was there - at the hotel. He saw the girl and then he saw - Draco. I couldn't do anything, you ordered me to come straight back if I saw anything, Sir"

Lucius and Severus exchanged terrified glances and jumped as a faint pop was heard behind them. They turned slowly and saw Yaxley stood in the doorway. He was wearing an ugly expression and once he caught sight of Severus, his expression got uglier. He was holding two people, they were gagged and bound but still conscious. Draco and Hermione.

"Well Well" he said, sneering. "Guess there will be four murders tonight"

**This might be my last chapter for a few days as I need a rethink of where to take it. Have faith in me though :)**


	12. Revenge

**A/N; Hey sorry for taking so long. I was distracted by ebay and all the Harry Potter stuff on there, think I'm broke now. And I also ended up with two Snape wands. -Sigh. Dunno what to do with the second one.**

**I also rewatched HP DH Part 2, and started crying at all the wrong parts lol :) anyway, this is a short chapter because I need to get back into this story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

Lucius jumped up and walked over to Yaxley, pulling out his wand. He pointed it at Yaxleys chest

"Let my son go" he snarled.

Yaxley let go of Draco and Hermione, and they fell to the floor with a large thud. He then pulled out his own wand and pointed it at Lucius's heart.

"You lied to me Lucius" He hissed, "I only went to get the Mudblood, to kill her. Imagine my surprise when I saw Draco alive and well"

Severus too, got up and pulled out his wand, pointing it at Yaxley. Yaxley turned to look at him, "And I see you have another traitor here." he snarled,

"And proud" Severus replied, sneering slightly.

A beam of gold light came out of nowhere and hit Yaxley in the chest, he flew backwards, hitting the wall with a loud _CRACK_ and slowly slid down it. He was knocked unconscious, his wand fell from his hand and rolled away.

Lucius and Severus spun round to see the source of light. Kayfoy was stood there, a satisfied expression on his face.

"You did that?" Lucius said, stunned. The elf had never before helped him, and he was shocked that it had just defended him.

"Yes, Master. He was going to kill you - I couldn't let him do that - Sir" The elf replied, wringing his pillowcase between his hands and avoiding Lucius's eye.

"Err, Thanks" Lucius stammered, embarrassed he turned to Severus who was leaning over Draco and Hermione, untying them.

Draco jumped up straight away, muttered his thanks to Severus and then turned to his father. A second later Hermione was untied, She was staring at Snape with a look of confusion on her face.

"You're meant to be dead" She said shocked. She couldn't take her eyes of off him, hadn't she seen him die a few months ago? But now he was standing there, alive and well. Or alive anyway, he looked pale and ill.

"It's a long story" Severus replied, pointing his wand at Yaxley and making ropes appear, tying him up.

Draco was still staring at Lucius, and vice versa.

"Draco - "He began, but was cut off by someone else yelling

"DRACO, You're alive. You're alive!". Narcissa had run into the room. She threw her arms around her son and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Mother, I'm fine" Draco said, slightly embarrassed.

"What are we going to do with Yaxley?" Severus said, and they all turned to look at him, lying unconscious on the floor, bound tightly.

"Put him in the cellar," Lucius said quietly, "I need to talk to my Son". He led the way out of the room and Draco followed him, Hermione stayed behind with Snape. She knew that they wanted to be alone, and she also knew what Lucius felt about her. She picked up Yaxley's wand and followed Snape down to the cellar.

Lucius led Draco to the dining room and sat down. Draco sat opposite, watching his father cautiously. He didn't know what was going to happen now, would his father try and kill him again?

"Draco" Lucius began, "I wanted to say how sorry I am for the other night. Yaxley and the other Death Eaters want you dead, this was the only way. If I didn't do it, Yaxley would of and he would of tortured you so bad"

Draco nodded, looking down at his hands.

"Yaxley followed me, and made sure I killed you. If I didn't make sure you looked dead then he would of killed you. It was Severus's idea actually, he knew how clever that Granger girl is and knew she would be able to sort you out, and even if she couldn't. She has muggle parents and grew up with them, so knows all about these err - Hospital things." Lucius said, he wanted Draco to look at him, to understand that he was sorry, and that he had no choice.

"You used the Crucio curse on me, father. And you expect me to forgive you? Do you really care more about being a Death Eater than your own son?" Draco said, looking up at his Father at last. "You could of said no, you could of told him to get lost, but you didn't" he said, getting angry now.

Lucius got up and walked round to Draco, he crouched down next to him "Draco, he would of killed you. Yaxley isn't the only Death Eater left. There's more and when they find out about tonight, we're all going to be in trouble"

"You Can't run again either" Lucius said, "they will find you easily. We need to stick together and work out a plan. We've been ridiculed for too long, the Dark Lord is gone and we're going to finish the Death Eaters, then life will be normal again" He smiled.

Draco didn't reply, he just got up and walked out of the room, he wanted to find Hermione and he wanted to be as far as away as possible from his father. He walked to the cellar and saw Severus and Hermione watching over Yaxley. Hermione turned round at the sound of his footsteps. Seeing the look on his face she ran over and pulled Draco into a hug.

"Are you ok?" She whispered, she too feared Lucius, and wondered what he was going to do to Draco.

He nodded, burying his face into her neck. Tears slowly began to fall and they landed in Hermione hair and down her neck. She looked over his shoulder at Snape who was watching them with a strange expression,

"How times have changed" he muttered, more to himself then anyone else. He saw Lucius standing in the doorway, "Well what are we going to do with Yaxley?" he said

Lucius didn't reply, he was watching Hermione and Draco "What's going on?" he asked confused.

They broke apart, and Draco hastily wiped his eyes "Nothing" he replied.

Lucius watched him for a few seconds more before saying,

"We kill him" He walked over to Yaxley and pulled out his wand, he undid the spell Kayfoy put on him, and watched as Yaxley slowly became conscious. He looked up at Lucius, hatred in his eyes.

"You made me torture my son" Lucius started, "You made me hurt my own flesh and blood, and for what? So that I am forgiven? So that I'm redeemed by the fellow Death Eaters? Well, I don't care anymore. My son is more important than you, than the other Death Eaters and more important than the Dark Lord. You should of died in the war Yaxley, but no matter." He pulled out his wand and pointed it at Yaxleys chest.

"You can't kill me Lucius, you're nothing but a failure. I don't know why the Dark Lord even wanted you, you weren't loyal to him. You just cared about the money, and your pure blood status. Your whole family is a disgrace." Yaxley sneered, and with that he spat at Lucius.

"I can kill people who deserve it," Lucius snarled, "My son didn't deserve it, the Dark Lord _did _deserve it, and _you _deserve it. _Avada Kedavra!" _he screamed, and a jet of green light flew out of his wand and hit Yaxley in the chest, right over his heart. Yaxley let out a small moan and fell to one side, dead.


	13. Calm before the Storm

**A/N: I'm sat here, eating a huge bag of Haribo's and writing this :) I do feel slightly sick though :(**

**Can I just say a huge THANKS to people reviewing this story, It makes me so happy to know that you like it. Your reviews also make me laugh, a lot. Which is good, very good. Anyway, enough chit chat. **

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything Harry Potterish. **

They all stood there, looking at Yaxley's body. None of them knew what to say, or what to do. After a few minutes Lucius walked over to him, and prodded his body with his foot.

"Just checking" He muttered, removing his foot quickly, as though he would catch some horrifying disease from it.

"Darling," A voice from behind said. Lucius turned round, and saw Narcissa standing there looking scared. "Rookwood is upstairs, with all the other Death Eaters."

She saw Yaxley lying dead against the wall and gasped, "You killed him? Lucius, they will get you!" She whispered, not able to take her eyes off of Yaxley's crumpled body.

Lucius moved towards her, gently taking her head in his hands, and pulling her face away from Yaxley. He looked deep into her eyes

"No, he won't. Trust me" and with that he grabbed her and they both made their way out of the cellar. Once he reached the door he turned back to the others and said,

"Stay here and keep quiet" and with that they was gone.

Lucius walked cautiously along the corridor and into the dining room, Narcissa was following close behind him, she was so quiet that he had to keep looking behind him to make sure she was still there. Standing beside the fireplace, obviously having just floo'd themselves in were Rookwood and the group of Death Eaters.

Lucius walked up to him and shook his hand, "Hello Rookwood, what brings you here today?" he said, looking round at the group.

Rookwood glanced around the room before saying "I'm looking for Yaxley actually. You haven't seen him have you? He said he had something important to tell us"

"No, I can't say I have" Lucius replied, carefully avoiding Rookwoods eye contact.

Rookwood looked at Narcissa, "And you, Have you seen Yaxley? He whispered in a greasy voice, his eyes looking up and down her body, a small smile on his face.

She whimpered, looking at Lucius quickly before saying "No, I haven't seen him" her eyes were firmly fixed on the floor, as though she expected Rookwood to call her a liar. But he didn't.

"Hm, well if you do see him, tell him we need to talk. By the way, I heard about your son, such a pity." He said, sneering at Lucius.

Narcissa's head shot up, she opened her mouth to say something, but Lucius shot her a look that said "Shut up!" and she shut it again, flushing slightly.

"Well, must be off. Stuff to do, not that you would know how that feels" Rookwood said smirking. He took one last glance at Narcissa, before getting into the fireplace and disappearing in a burst of green flames. The other Death Eaters followed suit.

"That was close" Lucius murmured, and he and Narcissa made their way back to the cellar. Hermione, Draco and Severus were all sat on the floor talking amongst themselves. They looked up when Lucius walked in.

"What did they want?" Severus asked, slowly getting to his feet and watching Lucius carefully.

"To ask where Yaxley was" Lucius replied, looking at Yaxley again before turning to Severus, and saying "We need a plan"

"We fight," Severus replied, "There's nothing else we can do. They're going to find out about Yaxley sooner or later, and we should get them on our terms rather then theirs."

"So what are you suggesting?" Lucius asked.

"We ambush them. We still have the Dark Mark, we can bewitch it so that, once it's pressed, the Death Eaters will come here. And then, we attack them" Severus finished, smiling slightly.

"But" Narcissa started, "There's only five of us against a dozen or more of them. We won't stand a chance."

They all stood, quiet for a while, stumped. Hermione was the first one to talk again;

"We call the Order" she said, looking at everyone in the room.

"The Order won't help us" Severus said, "The Malfoys are ex Death Eaters remember"

"They won't help them, no. But they'll help me and they'll help you" she said impatiently.

"Me?" Severus laughed, "They thought I killed Dumbledore remember! I thought you knew it all, obviously not" He sneered.

Hermione stared at him, she had forgotton that he was meant to be dead, therefore he didn't know about Harry telling the Order that he was innocent.

"Professor," She started, wondering how to tell him. "Harry saw your memories remember? He saw that it was all on Dumbledores orders, and that you were on our side all along. He told the Order that you were innocent"

Severus looked at her, wondering whether or not she was telling the truth. But then, why would she lie about it?

"Really?" he said, slightly stunned

"Yes, so the Order will help us. Maybe I should owl them though. It'll look better coming from me, rather than Lucius" She replied.

She looked at Draco and motioned him out of the room. They both walked to the Owlery which was at the back of the Manor and Draco called down his owl.

"Do you think the Order will help us?" He asked Hermione, who was scribbling on a piece of parchment.

"Yes, They want the remaining Death Eaters dead as much as we do. There - finished" she said, attaching the note to Hershey's leg. They both watched as he flew out of the window, getting smaller and smaller.

"This is like the war all over again" Draco murmured, watching Hershey fly over the trees and disappear.

Hermione stood close to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "It needs to be done though. The Death Eaters won't rest until we're dead, especially after your Father killed Yaxley." she said softly.

Draco turned round to face Hermione and gently kissed her on the lips, it was peaceful until the door to the Owlery flung open with a loud _BANG _

Lucius stood there looking stunned, "I was coming to see what took so long." he said faintly, watching them both slowly pull away from eachother.

"Awkward" Severus said from behind Lucius. He walked into the room, watching Hermione flush "Seems like Granger likes Draco, and maybe vice versa" He sneered.

"Shut up! Just because you've never been in love before." Draco snarled angrily at Snape, whose smirk vanished straight away, replaced with a cold glare.

"I have actually, Draco" he said, before turning and sweeping out of the room. Lucius was still stood there looking as though someone hit him on the head with a frying pan.

"So you're in love are you?" Lucius said, watching his son. Draco glared at him

"Yeah I am, do you have a problem with that? are you going to try and kill me again?"

Lucius seemed to be having a silent battle with himself before he finally sighed and said "No, I don't have a problem with that" He too, left the room, leaving Draco and Hermione standing there slightly shocked.

"I wonder what he'll say when he finds out we're engaged" Hermione muttered. Draco just shook his head,

"I really don't want to know" he said grimly.


	14. Betrayal

**A/N: Sorry, sorry sorry for late update. I have been so busy recently. **

**Quick recap: Draco and Hermione were caught by Yaxley. Kayfoy (Lucius's house elf) knocked Yaxley out, and Snape untied Draco and Hermione. Yaxley was taken to the cellar and killed by Lucius, now the other Death Eaters are going to find out and there's going to be a big battle (well biggish) and some people will die. **

**Enjoy :) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**This chapter is mainly Sev/Narcissa/Lucius with a lot of action xD**

Lucius allowed Hermione to stay in the Manor for the night. Mind you, he didn't have much choice seeing as Draco threatened to jinx him into oblivion if he kicked her out. Instead he settled for glaring at the pair of them all evening. None of them could sleep, they thought it would be too risky. If the Death Eaters were to attack then they would be an easy target. Draco and Hermione were sat by the fireplace basking in the heat whilst, Narcissa, Lucius and Severus were sat at the dining table at the back of the room.

Lucius pulled out his wand, pointed it at a small, wooden cabinet across the room, and muttered "_Accio Firewhiskey" _causing a large, glass bottle to shoot out of it, straight into his hand. He unscrewed the top and drank some straight from the bottle. He gulped, shaking his head slighty as the amber liquid slid down his throat, burning it. Narcissa glared at him.

"What?" he said bitterly "I need it, look at them two." He pointed at Draco and Hermione, who were getting very cosy infront of the fireplace.

In reply she just shook her head and grabbed the bottle away from him. She too pulled out her wand and made two glasses appear, then poured herself and Severus a drink.

"What about me?" Lucius murmered, noticing absence of a third glass. He narrowed his eyes at Narcissa.

"You've had enough" She replied, pushing the Severus's glass towards him.

"Thank you, Narcissa" He said, tipping his head slightly.

"Do you think the Order will reply?" She asked him, glancing at Draco and Hermione every so often.

"I don't know. On one hand you and Lucius are still hated by many people, on the other hand Hermione and I are here. If Potter has anything to do with it then yes, they will help us"

She nodded, sipping her drink slowly. "And will you fight? You could always run. You've done so much already" She murmured.

"Me, run? When have I ever ran away? No, I will stay and fight. For you, for Draco." Severus replied quietly. Lucius was watching the pair of them, he rolled his eyes and stood up hastily.

"I need some air" he muttered, and without another word, he turned round and strode off. Narcissa stared after him looking slightly embarrased.

"I apologise for his behaviour" she whispered, incase Lucius was still near and was listening to their conversation. Severus waved her apology away and glanced over at Draco.

"What do you think about them?" He asked. Narcissa looked over at the fireplace. Draco and Hermione were clinging onto each other watching the flames.

"If she makes him happy then why not? After everything that has happened, Draco needs some happiness" She smiled.

"And what about you? Are you and Lucius happy?" Severus asked, watching her carefully. She didn't _look _happy. Her eyes were red and bloodshot, her skin was pale and tinged with green. Her blonde hair lay limp around her shoulders. She saw him looking and sighed.

"Me and Lucius well - it's complicated" she answered, running her hand through the limp hair.

Severus didn't reply, he sat there watching - waiting for her to continue. She glanced around the room quickly then leant forward towards him.

"We - are only together for Draco. Lucius isn't - well you know what he's like. He's not a nice man" she whispered, her voice so low that Severus had to lean forward as well.

"Draco's an adult now, you don't need to protect him. How can you protect him when his own Father beat him up?" Severus muttered.

"He had to do that! Or Yaxley would of killed Draco" Narcissa snarled, her voice rising. Draco looked over, but she just smiled and he turned back to Hermione.

"_Had_ to? He could of killed Yaxley that night, but no, he chose to attack his own son." Severus snarled back.

Narcissa's eyes flashed angrily, then slowly bowed her head. She hastily wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her robe.

"I know, I will _never _forgive him for that, But I can't leave Severus" She looked up, into his eyes. "He won't _let_ me leave"

"What do you mean?" Severus asked. She shook her head, tears running freely down her face now. "Narcissa, what is it?" He pulled out a piece of cloth and gently wiped her eyes.

"He made me make an Unbreakable Vow. If I leave him - I die" She sniffed, "I can't do that to Draco, he needs me"

Severus stood up suddenly, his hands clenched into fists and anger flashed across his face. He made his way to the door, but stopped at Narcissa's voice.

"Severus, where are you going?" She cried. Draco jumped up and ran over to her, pulling her into a hug. He turned to look at Severus.

"Where _are _you going?" he asked.

"To see your precious Father" Severus replied. He left the room and walked towards the front door. He clenched his fist around his wand and kicked open the door. Striding down the steps he saw Lucius by the fountains. Lucius turned around at the sound of footsteps and was met with Severus's fist.

_SMACK_

Lucius stumbled causing him to step on the back of his robes and trip, falling head first into the fountain. Scrambling up as quick as possible, he turned to see Severus's wand pointed at his chest.

"What the HELL did you do that for?" Lucius screamed. His nose felt sticky and he could taste blood in his mouth, he wiped it away with his robe whilst glaring at Severus.

"You - _You!" _Severus splutted "You're _scum_ you know that? Pure _scum_!" He waved his wand and Lucius saw himself flying across the fountains, and smashing into the stone wall on the other side of the courtyard.

Severus walked over to him, "First Draco and now Narcissa! Do you care about _anyone_?" he snarled.

"I don't know what you're _talking _about Severus" Lucius replied feebly. Blood was trickling down his head and going in his blonde hair, causing it to go a pinkish colour.

"You made Narcissa take an Unbreakable Vow!" Severus snarled, "_That's_ what I'm talking about"

Lucius's face blanked. "She told you?" He whispered, making to get up.

"I'll get her, I'll make her _sorry_" He said angrily. He had barely stood up before Severus waved his wand again causing him to fall down in pain. He writhed in agony, fire was burning through his veins causing him to scream.

"Now you know how Draco felt when you _Crucio'd _him!" Severus spat. He kept his wand on Lucius until he heard voices behind him. He turned and saw Narcissa, Draco and Hermione running down the steps towards them.

"Stop it, STOP IT!" Narcissa yelled.

He moved his wand away from Lucius, who stopped writhing and lay panting on the ground. Draco looked at him, then at his mother.

"What is going on?" he asked calmly, or as calm as could manage after seeing his old Professor, and close family friend, attack his Father.

"Tell him, Narcissa" Severus snarled. "He deserves to know!"

She sighed, "Come in Draco. There's something you should know"


	15. Narcissa's Heartache

**A/N: I'm on a roll again, Thanks for the reviewss :) I do like Lucius, just not in this story. This chapter is about abuse, I have seen abuse first hand and find it hard to put into writing. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Enjoy.**

"You're going to tell him?" Lucius asked, his eyes wide in shock.

Narcissa nodded, "He deserves to know the truth about who you _really _are" she replied grimly.

She turned and headed back towards the Manor, leaving Lucius lying on the floor. Severus, Draco and Hermione followed her. Hermione felt a bit uneasy being inbetween a family feud, but she had nowhere to go, and by the looks of it, Draco needed her beside him.

She glanced at him and smiled faintly. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, "I'm scared" he mumured.

Narcissa led them into the dining room and motioned for Draco to sit down. He sat down on one side of the table, pulling Hermione down next to him. Severus sat next to Narcissa, opposite them.

"Well?" Draco began, "What the _fuck _is going on?"

Narcissa didn't answer straight away, instead she studied her hands thinking of how best to tell him. Her hands were shaking slightly, something Severus noticed. He placed his hand gently on top of hers, smiling slightly at her shocked face.

"It's Ok, He's not going to hurt you anymore" he said softly.

She seemed to draw courage from his comforting words, and looked up at Draco.

"It started whilst I was pregnant with you." She started, "Lucius didn't want a kid yet - he said we were too young. But I thought otherwise, I felt ready. Anyway, we had a fight about it and then Lucius came up with this idea. He said that - If I married him and swore not to leave him - then he'd let me keep the baby - you"

"Let you keep the baby?" Severus snarled, "It was your body, your choice."

Narcissa shook her head, "Lucius didn't see it that way. He said that if I turned him down he'd - he'd make sure the baby died."

She watched Draco, who had gone paler than usual. His face didn't show any emotions, but his hands did. They were clenched in fists under the table, his heart was racing. Hermione placed her hand on his leg and he unclenched his fists slightly but his heart continued to pound.

"So anyway" she continued hastily "I swore to him that we would get married as soon as possible and that I wouldn't leave him. I loved him a lot back then and felt like he truly was the one"

She sighed, "But that wasn't good enough for Lucius, he said he wanted me to _prove it._ He said that if I didn't do the Unbreakable Vow i'd regret it" she stopped, tears were starting to run down her face. She pulled out a tissue and wiped her eyes.

"I had no choice! I could of ran but what was the point? My family loved him, said he was the best thing to happen to me, but they didn't know what happened behind closed doors. No one did. If I ran he would of found me." She cried.

"So you agreed to marry him" Severus said, his voice laced in disgust.

"I wanted a baby more than anything, I couldn't let him hurt it. My family said it was all in my head, all the stuff he did to me. But it wasn't, I still have scars" and with that she pulled up her right sleeve. There was a large, purple bruise covering most of her forearm.

"Father did that?" Draco whispered. He couldn't take his eyes of off her arm. He swallowed hard and looked down at the table.

"I'm so sorry, Draco." She sniffed.

Draco slammed his fist against the table making everyone jump. "Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything wrong! it's him! All he does is hurt us"

Severus turned to Narcissa, "He still abuses you?"

She nodded, "It used to be really bad. Stress, he said. When the Dark Lord fell it subsided a bit, but it didn't stop. Especially now everyone knows he's a disgrace." She looked at Draco, "I know he loves you - maybe more than he loves me. But he does care, Draco"

"Yeah, looks like it" Draco spat.

"He killed Yaxley, remember" She soothed.

"Wow, one nice thing in 17 years. That really makes it all better doesn't it?" He sneered, "I was never good enough for him Mother. I wasn't smart enough, I couldn't play Quidditch as well as Potter I was an embarrasment in his eyes"

A shuffle of footsteps alerted them to another presence. Draco looked up and narrowed his eyes, causing Narcissa and Severus to turn around. Lucius was leaning in the doorway, panting slightly. He slowly shuffled into the room towards Draco.

"Draco, don't listen to your Mother, she doesn't mean it." He said softly, "She's lieing thats all"

Draco jumped up and pulled out his wand, pointing it at Lucius's throat.

"Don't you DARE say that about her! She wanted me, she loved me - for ME. You just wanted a trophy son and I wasn't that - was I Father?" Draco snarled, "You wanted me to turn out like you, but why would I? You're a disgrace. You gave me money, you gave me - _objects_ but you never gave me love!" Tears were starting to roll down his face but he ignored them.

"Draco, I do love you" Lucius whispered.

"No you don't or you wouldn't of let the Dark Lord turn me into a Death Eater. You care more about your reputation than me" Draco spat, pushing his wand deeper into Lucius's throat, causing him to flinch in pain.

"Draco, please. We can start again. You, me and your Mother" Lucius gasped. "I'll do anything"

"Anything?" Draco asked, his face blank and pale.

"Anything, Please" Lucius said, attempting to smile.

"Ok, Get out" Draco smirked, "We don't need you anymore. So go, no one here wants you"

"Draco, you don't mean that, please" Lucius begged. The second time in all of his life that he'd actually begged.

"Get out or I'll kill you" Draco shrugged, "Your choice. You're dead to me anyway"


	16. Acceptance

**A/N: Hey, so, next chapter :) Gonna be preeeetty long. But that's good, right? I'm really tired at the moment, been reading some Stephen King books which have kept me awake at night.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

"Draco, please" Lucius begged, but to no avail. Draco turned away and sat down next to Hermione, who was glaring at Lucius with disgust on her face.

"I think you'd better go" Severus drawled.

"I can't leave," Lucius snarled "My whole life is here, my house, my family!"

"No one wants you here though," Severus sneered. Narcissa was crying silently into a hanker chief, Draco and Hermione on the other hand, were gazing back into the blazing fire, their faces alight in the flames. Both of them were ignoring Lucius.

An awkward silence fell over the room, Lucius was stood glaring at Severus, who in turn, was glaring back at him. The tension grew thicker and thicker. A sharp tap on the window broke the silence. Severus turned his head to see Lucius's owl outside the window, a letter in his beak.

"Draco," Severus said, " I think the Order have replied"

Draco jumped up and ran over to the window, he took the letter from the owls beak, then went to sit back down by Hermione. He handed her the letter, which she took with slightly shaking hands.

"Everything rests on this one letter" she murmured. She gently tore it open and started reading the small, slightly rushed looking, writing.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Of course we will help you, we too, are looking for the last remaining Death Eaters and think this is the best_

_way to catch them._

_We will need to meet you, preferably at the Manor, to discuss the plan. Harry and Ron will be coming too, as well as some of Draco's old friends. We will arrive at Malfoy Manor tomorrow at 6 o clock._

_Make sure to warn the Malfoys, as we don't want two fights._

_See you soon._

_Kingsley._

_Minister of Magic._

She finished reading and handed the letter to Draco, who quickly scanned it. He glanced up at her, his face looking relieved.

"They're going to help us" He smiled, "This might finally be over soon"

He looked up at Severus who nodded back at him, then his eyes fell on Lucius, who was still standing in the same position.

"Why are you still here?" He spat.

"This is my house, Draco," Lucius replied, "You don't expect me to just leave, do you?"

"Yeah, I do! No one wants you here! Why can't you understand that!" Draco said angrily. Hermione placed her hand on his arm, he looked at her and she shook her head slightly.

"Narcissa, you should get some sleep. It's going to be a long day tomorrow." Severus said quietly. She nodded, wiping her eyes.

"Bet you'd like to join her wouldn't you, _Snape?" _Lucius sneered, his eyes narrowed and a slight smirk lined his mouth.

"No, I wouldn't, _Malfoy." _Severus replied coolly.

"Oh yeah I forgot, your love is _dead_ isn't she?" Lucius smirked, causing Severus to flush and stand up, pulling his wand out.

"Don't you _dare _say Lily's name. You're not even worthy to mention that name!" He snarled.

"Why not? She was just a stupid little _Mudblood. _The Dark Lord did us all a favour by ki- "

Severus waved his wand causing Lucius to fly backwards and hit the mantelpiece above the fire. He slid down one side and lay in a crumpled heap at the bottom. Severus waved his wand again and ropes flew out of them, bounding Lucius.

He turned round to face the other three, they were all watching him, fear in their eyes. He lowered his wand and stuffed it back into his robes.

"You can all go to bed, I'll keep watch" He said, trying to sound as calm as possible. Draco stood up and held is hand out for Hermione, who took it and got pulled up. Slowly, all three of them left the room. Narcissa bid them both Goodnight and went up the stairs towards her bedroom. Draco pulled Hermione down another corridor and into his bedroom. He flopped down on his bed and sighed.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked, sitting down next to him.

"I'm ok," He muttered, "This started off so well - Us two alone in paradise and now look, we're preparing for another war, My Father's an abuser, and my Mother well - I don't even know"

He ran his hand through his silky blonde hair and looked up at Hermione, "Bet you really regret taking me on holiday with you" he smiled.

"I did, at first. When I left you I went back to the Burrow and saw Harry and Ron. I told them about how I was falling for you, and how I thought you were just playing me" She said softly, "But now, I've seen another side of you, the side you never showed anyone at Hogwarts. You're not a bad guy, Draco, and you don't deserve all this"

Draco sighed and sat up, "I was brought up to think Muggle Borns were scum. Mainly by my Father, he would take me along sometimes when they went out and killed Muggles for fun. They were like animals; him, Yaxley and Rookwood. They would "play" with the Muggles first, if you get what I mean, and then kill them. My Father told me they deserved it, that they were wrong and should be disposed off" He shook his head sadly, "My Mother didn't kill anyone, but she didn't tell him to stop though. Scared of him, and now I know why"

He paused, watching Hermione's reaction, then carried on.

"My Father told me that if I wasn't in Slytherin, he'd disown me. He was never proud of me. I guess that's why I envied Potter. He had friends and people who cared for him and wanted him to do well. He may not of had Parents, but he still had people who loved him, you, the Weasleys, Hagrid, Sirius, even Lupin cared about him. All I had was my Mother."

"You had friends. Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy" Hermione said quietly.

"Crabbe and Goyle followed me cause my Father was high up with the Dark Lord, and Pansy only wanted me because I was popular. But you're right, they were good friends and when Crabbe -" He broke off, remembering the fire in the room of requirement at Hogwarts.

"He didn't deserve to die" Hermione murmured softly, linking her hand with Draco's.

"You're right, but he got too - attached to the Dark Lord's ways. He liked what he was doing, he enjoyed hurting people for no reason. He could of killed us all" Draco sighed. "Father should of had him as a son instead, at least he'd be proud then"

Hermione stood up, "We need to get some sleep. It's going to be a long day tomorrow" She leant over and kissed Draco on the cheek before leaving the room. Her bedroom was only two doors down, Lucius refused to let them sleep in the same room, and she didn't want to risk it, even though Lucius was now tied up.

Her room was impressive to say the least, it had a huge four poster bed in the middle of the room, with burgundy curtains hanging down each side. It reminded her of the Gryffindor Tower and seemed strange that the Malfoy's would have these colours in their home. She walked over to it and saw a little note on her pillow.

_Thought you'd feel more at home with these colours,_

_Sleep well,_

_Love Draco_

Pulling the covers back she saw a deep red nightdress, and smiled. Draco really did have everything sorted out, and wanted her to feel at home as much as possible. She slipped it on and climbed into bed. The mattress was springy and seemed to mould around her body, the pillows were the softest she'd ever felt and before she knew it, she was asleep.

oOo

"Hermione, wake up. Breakfast is ready" A sexy, familiar voice was saying. Hermione opened her eyes blearily and saw a blond head obscuring her vision. The blond head seemed to smile slightly, and then - she was on the floor.

"Oomf," She huffed, "What was that for?"

Draco smirked, "You were taking too long getting up, So I helped a little"

"Git" She muttered, pushing her brushy brown hair out of her eyes and looking up to see Draco grinning at her. He held out his hand for her, and she grabbed it suspiciously.

"Wow Draco, you sure change moods quickly"

He grinned, his eyes flashing mischievously. "That does tend to happen when I'm hungry" He drawled.

Now that he mentioned it, she could smell food. Quickly pulling on a dressing gown, she followed Draco out of the room and down the corridor towards the dining room. Narcissa was already sat at the table, reading what looked like, the Daily Prophet.

Draco pulled out a chair for her and she sat down smiling slightly, he then sat next to her and clicked his fingers. The next moment a house elf appeared out of thin air.

"Master Malfoy" It squealed, "What can I do for you, Sir?"

Draco looked at Hermione, "What would you like for Breakfast?" He asked.

Hermione looked at the house elf, this one seemed to be different to Dobby. Where he wore a dirty Pillowcase, this elf had a nice piece of white cloth tied around him, and was also wearing bobbly socks. He seemed to be happier and fatter as well.

"-Slow today"

Hermione shook her head slightly and looked at Draco, who had just spoken.

"Sorry, what did you just say?" She asked.

He smirked, "I was apologising for you being so slow." he said, causing her to flush.

"I'm sorry, I'll have some toast please" she replied hastily.

"And I'll have a full English breakfast please, Dibbins" Draco said, still smirking at Hermione's slowness.

Dibbins bowed deeply and then with a loud _CRACK _Disapparated.

"What's on your mind?" he asked quietly.

"I just noticed that your house elf was a lot happier than Dobby, and it had a fresh cloth _and _socks"

Draco laughed, "Yeah Father treats them better now after what Potter did. Besides, me and Mother didn't like the way he was treated but you know what Father is like"

Narcissa looked up, watching them both talking and laughing and cleared her throat.

"Hermione?" She said.

Hermione looked over, startled. She hadn't spoken to Narcissa before, well apart from that time in Diagon Alley, and that didn't turn out so well.

"Yes, Mrs M-Malfoy?" She stuttered.

"Call me Narcissa please" Narcissa smiled, "I was just wondering if maybe, we could go for a little walk. Get to know each other."

Hermione looked over at Draco, who looked stunned. "Mother?"

"Draco, if she's going to be part of the family, then I'd like to get to know her" She replied.

"Part of the family?" Draco asked, which caused Narcissa to laugh.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice? That ring on Hermione's finger does stand out quite a bit you know. And beside's I'm your Mother, I know these things" She smirked.

"I'd love to Mrs - I mean - Narcissa" Hermione smiled faintly, "I'll just go and get dressed"

She got up and left the room, leaving Draco and Narcissa alone. Bibbins returned with two plates,

"Master Malfoy, where is your lady friend?" He squeaked, placing one of the plates in front of Draco.

"She has gone to get changed. Take that plate to her room, Knock first" Draco replied, and with another _CRACK _Bibbins vanished. Draco turned to his Mother.

"What's going on?" He said, eyeing his Mother suspiciously.


	17. The Third War Begins

**A/N: Part one of the Battle Chapter**

**Summary: Narcissa wants to talk to Hermione alone, but whyyy?**

**Enjoy.**

"Nothing, Draco. If she's going to be part of the family, then I want to get to know her" Narcissa said, watching her son with slight interest. Noticing that he still looked suspicious she added "Draco, I'm not like your Father"

Draco nodded, unsure of whether he should believe her or not. They stood in an awkward silence waiting for Hermione to return, which she did, 5 minutes later. She had thrown on a green fleece and jeans and stood nervously between Draco and Narcissa.

"We'll be back later, Draco" Narcissa smiled, and then she turned and walked out of the Manor, Hermione in tow. Hermione gave one last uneasy glance at Draco and then they turned the corner and he was gone.

Narcissa led her out to the gardens behind the Manor. Hermione had to admit they looked amazing, there was a path going down the middle with red, pink and white roses down either side of the path. Everywhere she looked was colourful, a mixture of greens, blues, pinks and reds. Like a sea of sweets. Whoever looked after these gardens had good taste and took great pride in their work, Narcissa could see Hermione looking around in awe and smiled.

"These are my creation" She said, pointing at the sea of flowers.

"You d-did this?" Hermione asked, shocked.

"Oh yes, Whenever Lucius was - angry - I would come out here and tend to these. They were all I had when Draco left. In fact the day he left, was the day I planted them"

"They've gone fast" Hermione said, bending over to smell a pink rose.

"With a little bit of Magic of course" Narcissa smiled.

They walked to the end of the garden and sat down on a patch of grass under a large oak tree. The Sun shone down on their faces, and Hermione could see Narcissa close her eyes slightly, enjoying the warmth. After a few minutes she opened her eyes again, and studied Hermione.

"You think I hate you, don't you?" She asked.

Hermione shook her head slightly, "It's not that it's just - you think I'm a - Mudblood and Draco's Pureblood"

"i'm not perfect Hermione. I was bought up by a Pureblood family who thought Blood status was law. My parents kept telling me _only go for purebloods Narcissa. Don't be like your sister. _So that's what I did. I went out and found Lucius. My parents were thrilled, of course. The Malfoys are a big name, as you can probably tell, so when I told my parents about him they were ecstatic. I was ecstatic at the beginning, he was everything I wanted, but then I grew blind. Blind to who he _really _was and what he really was like."

She stopped, gazing around the garden thoughtfully, then carried on.

"We'd only been dating for a few months when it all began, he would hit me and then say I deserved it, or he would call me names and say I started it."

"Why did you stay?" Hermione whispered

"Because I was stupid, when you're in love, or think you're in love, you seem to drown out all the bad stuff and just think about the good things. Lucius was smart, he would say nice stuff to keep me there. Say I was beautiful or I was the one for him, all that stuff. And I fell for it, and I walked around in a little cloud of my own, smiling like the Cheshire cat whilst having bruises on my arm." She smiled slightly.

"Hermione, you don't know how - _relieved - _I am to know Draco hasn't turned out like Lucius. Draco has such a heart, yet he hides it. Scared to show Lucius any weakness. Silly boy"

Hermione sat there stunned.

"Hermione, I brought you out here to apologise. I was nasty to you, and I am truly sorry, and I hope that one day you can forgive me"

"Of course, Mrs Malfoy" Hermione said faintly, still slightly shocked by it all.

"And I hope, that once this all over, we can start again. Without Lucius though" Narcissa whispered.

"We would like that, Mrs Malfoy" Hermione smiled.

"Call me Narcissa, you're going to be part of the family soon. Speaking of which, we need to get back before the Order arrive" Narcissa said, getting to her feet slowly. She held out a hand for Hermione and pulled her up, then together they walked back towards the Manor.

**Draco's POV**

Draco was getting seriously stressed out, partly because he was wondering whether or not his mother had scared Hermione off, and also because the Order will be arriving soon, and he didn't want to face them alone. Severus was sat in a chair by the fire, reading a book and looking totally unconcerned.

"Draco sit down! you'll wear the carpet out" He hissed

"What if she's killed Hermione, Severus" Draco panicked. He wanted to run out there and find her but every time he tried Snape would stun him. His bum was sore after falling on it 10 times in a row.

He threw a dirty look at Snape and sat down, only to jump up again when he heard the door open. He ran towards it before Snape could stun him again and threw himself on Hermione, clinging tightly to her neck.

"You're alive!" He crooned.

Both Narcissa and Hermione rolled their eyes, with Narcissa saying "Stop being such a drama queen, Draco"

All three of them walked back into the living room, it was quarter to six and they were all getting anxious. Severus stood up and walked out of the room, returning a few minutes later with a large bottle of Firewhiskey and four glasses. He pulled each of them a glass, handed it to them and then sat back down, his eyes watching the fire.

At precisely 6 o'clock Kingsley arrived in the fireplace, shortly followed by Ron, Harry, George, Arthur, Molly, Percy, Pansy, Blaise and Goyle. Hermione ran over to Harry and practically jumped on him, hugging him tight. Pansy, Blaise and Goyle walked over to Draco looking slightly nervous, he in turn just looked stunned.

"What are you doing here?" He asked amazed. He thought they hated him after Voldemort was defeated.

"We're here to help you mate" Blaise said, grinning slightly. He pulled Draco into an awkward sort of hug, which Draco returned. When they pulled away he couldn't help but grin himself. Pansy threw her arms round him and giggled,

"I missed you Drakey -Poo" She soothed, smiling at his disgusted look.

Draco looked around the room, still grinning. Dawlish and Kingsley were talking to Severus and Narcissa, while Molly, Arthur,George and Percy watched. Hermione was busy chatting to Harry and Ron, although she kept glancing over at him. Lucius had now been moved to the cellar, seeing as no one wanted to look at him anymore.

Kinsgley walked up to the dining table and banged his fist down, everyone turned to look in his direction, and he motioned for them all to sit down. Draco sat next to Hermione, and saw Ron glaring at him every minute or so. He smirked back at the Weasel, feeling better about the whole situation.

"Right everyone, this is our one chance to get those final pieces of scum and lock them up. You all agreed and I would like to say thanks. We need all the help we can get, Voldemort -" Arthur, Molly and George flinched "may be gone but the Death Eaters are still here and still angry. So lets get them all"

"For Fred!" George yelled.

"For Lupin and Tonks!" Ron yelled,

"For all of us" Kinsgley said. "Let's finish this war for good, yes?"

"YES!" They all cried in unison.

"Right. This is the plan - Severus you will call the Death Eaters to the Manor. Get them in this room. Me, Molly, Arthur and Percy will be in hiding just outside the doors. Pansy, Blaise, Ron and Harry will all hide in this room. We can't have too many people in here as there aren't many places to hide. George will be outside, hidden of course under Harry's cloak. He will keep look out for more and if any arrive he'll give us the signal. Draco, Hermione and Narcissa, you three will be out the back watching for any Death Eaters that way. If this goes correctly we will have the place surrounded. Severus once the Death Eaters arrive say the secret code which is "Yaxley". When we hear that we will all attack, try and round them up, but if you cant - kill them before we lose anymore people"

He paused and took a deep breath, "Into positions people! Severus, are you ready?"

Severus nodded. Harry handed George his cloak, watching as he disappeared under it. Draco, Hermione and Narcissa all made their way out to the back of the Manor. It was dark outside now, and Hermione shivered slightly in the cold.

"I really hope this works" She said, rubbing her hands to keep warm.

"It will" Draco smiled, pulling her close. Narcissa pulled out her wand and studied the darkness for any signs of movement.

Back inside the Manor Severus was stood by the fire, his robes pulled up past his arm, revealing the Dark Mark. He took a deep breath, counted to 5 in his head and then pressed the Mark with his other hand..

**I have to cut this into 2 chapters, otherwise it will be like 4,000 words long. :) The second bit will be up soon and that's where it all kicks off..**


	18. It's Only Just Begun

**A/N: This is part 2 of my Battle. **

**Warnings: Mild swearing, Rape reference, blood etc.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

_CRACK_

Rookwood appeared

_CRACK _Avery appeared next to him.

All around the room Death Eaters were appearing out of nowhere, a few of them wearing masks. There were more this time, more than the dozen before.

Rookwood stepped forward, his face looking mildly amused. He pulled down his hood and gazed at Severus thoughtfully.

"Ah, You're alive Snape. Isn't that nice" He sneered, his hand reaching into his robes, presumably grasping his wand. Severus backed up slightly, hiding the Dark Mark hastily. All the other Death Eaters had their wands out, pointing them at his chest.

Rookwood cocked his head to one side. "Why did you call us?"

Severus smirked, "I was just - wondering if you've found - _Yaxley - _yet"

BANG

The door burst open and Kingsley, Arthur and Percy ran in from outside, holding their wands up as they shouted;

"_Stupefy"_

"_Expelliarmus_"

"_Pertrificus Totalus_"

One by one the Death Eaters began to fall, apart from Rookwood and Avery, who had ducked out of the way, behind the dining table. Ron and Harry caught Avery in the back with a stunning spell whilst Pansy and Blaise hit Rookwood in the back of the head with a chair, he gave a slight oof and slumped onto the floor.

Chaos reigned. The Death Eaters that hadn't fallen were running around casting spells in every direction, not caring who or what they hit. Five of them ran out of the room, followed by Ron and Pansy, who were desperately trying to stun them.

Hermione and Draco were standing outside, their wands raised, waiting. They could hear the crunch of gravel in the distance slowly getting nearer and louder. They braced themselves as four Death Eaters ran around the corner.

"_Stupefy_" Draco and Hermione screamed in Unison, causing two of the Death Eaters to fall. The other two dived out of the way, Disapparated, before reappearing behind Narcissa and sending her flying. She fell with a loud thump onto the gravel and lay unconscious on the floor.

Draco yelled in rage and waved his wand at the Death Eaters, but they blocked it, sneering at him.

"You Malfoys are useless!" One of them leered, pointing his wand at Draco. He waved it causing a blue flame to erupt out of his wand and fly at Draco's face, who ducked just in time as the flame flew over the top of his head, singeing his hair.

"NO" Hermione shrieked, flicking her wand at the Death Eater, and causing him to double up in pain. His skin began to smoke and he ran around desperately trying to cool it down. Before he could reach the end of the Manor however he got engulfed in a ball of flames.

The other Death Eater roared in rage and ran at Hermione, knocking her to the floor, he then climbed on top of her and began ripping her clothes off, sneering at her screams. She tried to push him off but he was too strong.

Just as Death Eater was about to pull her underwear off something jumped on his back, pulling him away. Draco had thrown aside his wand in anger and lunged himself onto the Death Eater, throwing his arms around the mans throat. He could hear choking and tightened his grip.

"How _dare_ you touch my fiancée, you piece of _shit_" Draco snarled, watching as the Death Eater began to turn blue, his eyes rolling up into his head.

"_Crucio" _A voice yelled, causing Draco to fall to the floor, writhing in agony. A short, fat Death Eater was stood in front of him, his wand pointed at Draco and a grin on his face. Someone screamed in the distance and the fat Death Eater spun around to see Ron staring at him, his wand held in front of his chest.

"Only I can bully Malfoy, not you" He snarled, and flicked his wand causing the Death Eater to sprout large boils all over his face, covering his eyes and going into his mouth. The Death Eater stumbled as more and more boils erupted all over his body causing him to fall backwards. He squirmed around in agony before all the boils popped at once and he became motionless.

"Thanks" Draco smiled, before running over to Hermione and pulling her into a hug. He grabbed her clothes and passed them to her, shielding her from Ron whilst she got changed.

"Are you ok?" He murmured into her ear. She was crying and her eyes were swollen and red. She nodded in response and grabbed her wand.

"Come on" She muttered, "It's not finished yet"

Draco nodded and ran over to his mother, kneeling beside her and checking the pulse. He then grabbed his wand and stood up.

"_Rennervate" _He muttered, pointing his wand at his Mother.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Draco, relief in her eyes. She stood up, stumbling slightly and walked over to him.

"Draco, you're ok" She smiled, pulling him into a hug.

"Of course I am mother, takes more than a Death Eater to kill me" He smirked.

A loud BANG followed by several cries were heard from inside the Manor and Hermione, Ron and Draco ran back inside to find a full on war raging. There were about 30 Death Eaters now, fighting with all they had. A scream from behind him made him spin round and come face to face with six more Death Eaters, two of whom were holding up Lucius, who was still bound and gagged, but fully conscious.

"Found him in the cellar. Another filthy little blood traitor" One of the Death Eaters said. Draco recognised him as being Rowle.

Rowle pushed Lucius onto floor and pointed his wand at his heart, Draco didn't even have time to mutter a word before Rowle waved his wand, causing a green light to burst out of it and hit Lucius right in the heart. He looked surprised for a minute before all life left his eyes and he fell back, dead.

Draco screamed, unable to take his eyes off of his Father, who was lying still as though merely sleeping. Rowle laughed and kicked aside Lucius's body. He then faced Draco, a mad glint in his eye.

"Now for the Son" he said quietly, raising his wand again.

Draco's mind had gone blank, he couldn't think of a counter spell and even if he could, he wouldn't be fast enough. So he closed his eyes, and thought about Hermione and the time they spent together, thinking that at least he'd die happy.

After a few seconds of not being killed, he opened his eyes, and saw Rowle lying on the floor, blood pouring from his head. He looked round to see Severus with his wand raised, smiling slightly. Draco smiled back and glanced round the room; Hermione and Ron were fighting a large Death Eater in the corner, whilst George was fighting two others. He ran over, pulling his wand out as he went, and fired a well aimed hex at one of the Death Eaters, causing them to blast back into the fireplace. George gave him a quick grin then finished off his own Death Eater.

"That's for Fred, you bastard!" He yelled, as the Death Eater fell to the floor.

The room was quiet apart for Hermione, Ron and their large man, who were all still fighting. Hermione finally sent a stunner right through the mans flailing arms, hitting him right in the face. The man fell with a resounding _crack_ and the room went silent.

Draco walked back over to Lucius and knelt down besides him, his grey eyes were open and glazed over, so Draco carefully shut them. Then he stood back up and turned to the others. Molly, Arthur, Ron, Hermione, George and Percy were all standing there watching him. They were all bearing injuries, Molly had a black eye, Arthur, a cut lip, Percy had a large gash down his robes, and George had a bloody nose.

"Where's Blaise and Pansy?" He asked, noticing that they were not in the room, nor was his mother.

"We haven't seen them since this all started. A lot of the Death Eaters ran" Arthur replied, wiping his lip with his robes.

"_Come out come out wherever you are, we have your friends and dear Narcissa here_" a loud voice from outside the Manor called.

"Rookwood?" Draco said shocked, "he's still alive?"

"He was one of the ones who -"

But he was interrupted by Rookwoods voice again. "_If you don't come out in 30 seconds, Draco, we will kill your friends and your mother, once i've played with her, of course_"

Draco blanched and glanced at Hermione. Ron had his arm around her and was looking at Draco as though saying "go on, go". So Ron still hated him, well it didn't surprise Draco that much. He nodded slightly and headed towards the exit.

"No, No! Draco, don't - please" Hermione cried behind him. He turned round to see her reaching out for him, but being pulled back by Ron, and he smiled.

"Hermione, we were all wrong. You don't belong with me - you belong with weasel" Ron scowled at him, and he quickly carried on. "I'm sorry I have to do this"

Before Hermione could respond he quickly strode out of the living room and towards the exit. He pulled open the front door and saw Rookwood standing near the fountains with ten Death Eaters all stood behind him. He had Pansy, Blaise and his mother, all of whom were looking terrified.

He smiled as he saw Draco "I do believe you're late. Which means - one of these will have to die" he smirked.

"No, please - kill me" Draco begged, ignoring the terrified looks from his mother.

"Oh, I will Draco, but I like to play first - you should know that. Muggles are usually my favourite but well - Blood traitors will do just as well"

Draco shuddered, remembering all the stuff Rookwood did to the Muggles. He gripped his wand tightly, even though he knew he didn't have a spell for all of them. Rookwood had pulled out a small, silver knife with an extremely sharp tip, and walked over to Pansy and Blaise.

"Well Draco, nows your chance to be a hero. Which one do you want to save? Him or her." Rookwood smiled, his eyes gleaming.

"I'm not choosing, they're both my friends!" Draco snarled.

"Choose or they both die" Rookwood said coldly, moving the knife from Pansys throat to Blaise's, and then back again.

"I'm not choosing" Draco said stubbornly. In his head he was wondering what the hell he could do to get out of this, but he couldn't see a way.

"Have it your way then" Rookwood said, before slicing the knife across Pansy's throat. Blood splurted out before she crashed heavily to the floor. Draco looked down at her, his hands clenched in fists, as she lay in her own blood, her eyes cold and glazed over.

"Well that was part one of the game, and now for part two" Rookwood smiled, and Draco heard a large crash from behind him.

He spun round in horror to see the Manor collapsing, as though in slow motion. He went to run back inside but the entrance got blocked by falling debris and bricks. He jumped out of the way and looked around urgently for another way in. He could hear screaming, and screamed himself, he pulled out his wand and faced Rookwood again.

"You'll kill them all!" He spat.

Rookwood grinned, "That's the plan" and with that he Disapparated taking Blaise and Narcissa with him.

**Ooo, Where have they gone and what will Draco do now? :)**


	19. I Will Always Love You

**A/N: Sorry for the cliffy :) And thanks for the reviews, means alot to me. I tend to write the battle scenes whilst listening to sad music.**

**Just a short little chapter, I just realised this story will be longer then I expected, so I'm sorry about that :)**

"Nooooooooo!" Draco moaned, falling onto his knees and dropping his wand to one side. He ran his hands through his now dirty hair and stared at the spot where his mother and Blaise vanished. He could still see the terrified looks on their faces, he had let them down, let them get taken.

"Draco?" A faint voice from behind him called. He turned round and saw Hermione, George, Molly, Arthur, Percy, Snape, Kingsley and Harry behind him, all of them covered in dust and blood, their robes torn and frayed.

Hermione ran forward and chucked her arms around his neck. Draco placed his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder, she was crying and he could feel her tears going down his back.

"Hermione, it'll be ok" He lied, pulling her closer to him.

"It's Ron," She cried, "He didn't get out in time"

Draco pulled away and gazed into Hermione's eyes, then he turned to look at the others. Harry looked angry. At him? Molly, Arthur and George were all crying, and started walking back towards the rubble. Harry shot him a final dirty look and went to help them, slowly they managed to remove some of the heavier bricks and a tuft of ginger hair could be seen.

"Ronald!" Molly cried, jumping onto the rubble and pulling the bricks away with her bare hands. Arthur and George pulled her back, and pulled out their wands. Slowly the bricks were moved aside and there lay Ron, his eyes half closed and a look of surprise on his face.

This time when Molly ran up to him, the others didn't stop her. Instead they just clutched each other and watched as Molly pulled Ron into a tight hug, her face wet with tears. Draco turned and walked towards the Manor Gates, he had to find the Death Eaters and get his Mother back, and Blaise too.

Before he could move two steps however, a fist came out of nowhere and made contact with the side of his head. He stumbled back slightly, his head spinning, and black dots floating before his eyes. Turning, he saw Harry glaring at him, his fist pulled back again.

"Harry, what the fuck?" He snarled, rubbing his head with one hand. The world was still spinning and he could see double of everyone. Great, he thought, two angry Harry's.

"You, You! I lose everyone because of _you!_" Harry spat, he pulled his wand out and pointed it at Draco. But before he could so much as mutter a word, Hermione stepped in front of him, blocking Draco from his view.

"Hermione, what are you doing? Ron's dead because of him!" Harry growled, trying to aim past Hermione, but she kept moving so he couldn't get a fix on Draco.

"Harry" Hermione said weakly, "You and Ron _volunteered _to help. No one made you come here"

Harry stopped trying to get a fix on Draco, he lowered his wand and glared at Hermione instead. She flinched back slightly at the look on his face.

"So you're saying Ron _deserved _this?" He spat, "Ron _loved _you Hermione, that's why he's here. And I'm your friend, we did this for _you _not for him"

"It's not Draco's fault he died!" Hermione cried, "In case you didn't notice he lost his Father tonight as well, and a school friend!"

"I can't believe this, you're defending him! You've changed Hermione, you're just as bad as he now" Harry growled, pocketing his wand and turning away. Draco grabbed his arm and pulled him back, snarling.

"Don't talk to Hermione like that! After all she's done for you!" He snarled, pulling Harry close, so that they were nose to nose. He could see the Chosen One's green eyes widen in shock, before narrowing again.

He pulled himself out of Draco's grasp and stalked off towards the Weasley's, all of whom were watching the conversation warily. Molly was sat on the rubble with Ron in her lap, stroking his hair and singing quietly to him.

"How did you get out?" Draco murmured to Hermione.

"Snape grabbed me and Harry and Apparated us out. I guess the others managed to leave as well, well apart from - Ron" She broke into sobs again.

Arthur cleared his throat and they both turned to look at him, "Hermione, we're going back to the Burrow. Are you coming?"

Hermione turned back to Draco, who was watching her carefully. "You should go" he soothed, wiping her eyes with his thumb.

"I can't, I cant leave you" She mumbled, clinging onto his robes.

He smiled faintly and gently pulled his robes out of her grasp, "Hermione - I've got to find my mother, she's all I have left. And Blaise too, I can't leave them"

"What about me?" Hermione asked faintly, not taking her eyes off of his.

"Hermione - I will _always _love you. But you - you don't belong with me. You belong with them" he pointed to Harry and the Weasleys. "And I - I don't deserve you, Granger" He smiled more, hastily wiping his eyes with one hand.

"I wanna come with you!" she cried, tears running down her face, but Draco slowly shook his head.

"I can't. Hermione, you can go and be happy again, Mourn Ron and go on with your life. For me, this won't be over till i'm dead." He said softly.

"But what about us, we were going to be married, what about everything that happened? Las Vegas, New York, you can't throw all that away Draco! I won't let you!"

"I'm hated by most of the Wizarding world Hermione. They - " He motioned to the Weasley's and Harry again "are here for _you _not me."

Draco bent down slightly and kissed her on the cheek, before slowly pulling away. He backed away and pulled out his wand, silently casting a shield charm between himself and Hermione.

"You really are the cleverest witch I know, just wish I realised that 7 seven years ago" He said quietly, trying to ignore the tears running down his face, also trying to ignore his heart, which was screaming at him to reconsider and go back to Hermione.

Hermione tried to run at him, but got blocked by the charm. Before she could pull out her wand and remove it, Draco whispered,

"I love you - Be safe" and then looked up at the Weasley's and Harry.

"I'm so sorry" He murmured before he Disapparated.

The shield charm broke and Hermione fell forward onto her knees. Tears were running freely from her eyes, and fell with a gentle splat onto the gravel. Harry moved forward and put his arm around her shoulders, but she pushed him away.

"He's gone Hermione" He whispered.


	20. The Escape

**A/N: Next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing -cry-**

**Enjoy**

Harry grabbed Hermione's arm and Disapparated, before reappearing at the Burrow. All the other Weasley's were there as well as Kingsley and Snape. Molly had placed Ron on the sofa, covering him up with a quilt. Hermione pushed Harry away again and made to go outside.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked angrily.

"I gotta find him, Harry" She replied, opening the door and stepping out into the cool air. It helped to clear her head and make her brain work again, for it had stopped as soon as Draco left.

"Why Hermione? Ron's dead, you should be focusing on him, not Draco!" Harry snarled, following her outside.

"Draco needs me, and he could be dead soon too!"

"Good, I hope he does die. Do the world a favour" Harry replied bitterly.

Hermione spun round angrily, pulling out her wand. Harry glanced at it before smirking, "You wouldn't get me Hermione, we're friends" He sneered.

"We _used _to be friends, before you got all pathetic!" Hermione shrieked.

"Pathetic? Ron's _dead _Hermione! And all you care about is that piece of scum, Malfoy"

"He doesn't deserve this Harry, it wasn't his fault Ron died, I told you that" Hermione cried.

"Hermione, look at his Father, he was a Death Eater. Even Malfoy was a Death Eater. How do we know this wasn't some set up to get us all killed!" Harry said furiously.

"What?" Hermione spluttered, "You think I would be part of that?"

"Yeah - Maybe. I dunno - He could of put you under the imperio curse - you're acting different enough" Harry muttered.

"Acting different?" Hermione asked sceptically.

"Going on about how you love him, how you're going to get married, it's _pathetic_! He doesn't love you - he doesn't love anyone but himself"

"Harry you haven't seen the side of him that I have. He's not like Lucius"

Harry snorted, "Yeah right. Next you'll be saying he's all kind and harmless. I won't let you go after him, Hermione."

Hermione laughed, "You think you can stop me? Harry, I am smarter, quicker and faster than you at Magic, you really don't stand a chance"

Harry sighed, "You're right. I can't but you won't be able to escape. The Ministry has placed charms and Hexes around the Burrow, no one can leave"

"What?" Hermione shrieked angrily.

"So, you won't be leaving" Harry smiled.

Hermione stalked back into the house, pushing past Harry as she went. She stomped up the stairs, into the room she used to share with Ginny, and flopped down onto the bed. How could Draco leave her? Why was he being all high and moral and _why _wasn't she allowed to leave? This was stupid, she didn't belong here anymore, she belonged with Draco, saving his Mother and Blaise.

She sat up on the bed, thinking hard. There must be some way out of the wards, she thought. She watched out the window as Errol, the Weasley's old bedraggled owl, flew towards the house, and then it hit her. She knew how to get past the wards, she just needed someone to help her, And the only person likely to do that, was Snape.

A soft knock on the door made her jump, and she turned round trying to look innocent, when she saw it was only Harry. He walked across the room and sat down next to her.

"What do you want?"

"Hermione, this is stupid. We've been friends for 7 years now, and you're choosing him over us!" Harry said desperately.

"He needs me" Hermione replied

"It's too dangerous. You could be killed"

Hermione laughed, "Harry, that didn't stop me coming out with you, did it? I mean we were against _Voldemort_, I think If I can handle hunting horcrux's and the like then I can handle a few Death Eaters"

Harry shook his head, "So you choose him? After all we've been through? Please Hermione, forget Malfoy. If he dies, then good. But we can be happy, me, you and Ginny, it can be like old times"

"I don't want to be a third wheel, Harry. I'm going after Draco and that's final" Hermione said simply.

"You can't get out" Harry snorted. He stood up and left the room without another word. Hermione waited until he left and then ran down the stairs looking for Snape. She found him in the living room sitting by the fire, reading what looked like a potions book. She slowly walked across the room and sat in the chair opposite, waiting for him to look up.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"I need your help" Hermione whispered, glancing around the room to make sure no one was about.

"With getting out of here I assume?" He smirked, causing Hermione to flush slightly.

"Well, Yeah. I can't stay here. Not with Draco out there alone"

"And what of Mr Weasley?" Snape asked.

"I will mourn him once this is over, of course I will. He was my best friend for years, but I can't let someone else die"

"Naturally, do you have a plan?"

Hermione nodded, "I need you to come to the wards with me tonight."

Snape cocked his eyebrow "Oh?"

"I need you to transfigure me into an animal, any animal and then once I'm through the wards, transfigure me back"

"A beaver?"

"Excuse me?" Hermione said, glaring.

"Nothing." Severus smirked, remembering Hermione's big teeth problem. "Of course I'll help, I'm worried about Draco as much as you are"

Hermione continued to glare at him before finally nodding, "Thank you"

She got up and made her way back to the room, she needed some sleep if she was going to go on a wild goose chase for Draco. He could be anywhere, she thought to herself angrily. She decided to go back to the Manor and see if there were any clues as to where Draco had gone, and then after that, she didn't know.

oOo

At 11pm Hermione got up and slowly shuffled across the room, trying not to wake Ginny, who was in a bed opposite her. She grabbed her wand from the bedside table and gently opened the door. It creaked slightly, causing Hermione to panic, she quickly looked around at Ginny, who was still sleeping, and then made her way downstairs. The fire was still burning feebly, but no one else was about so Hermione ran across the room and pulled the back door open.

In the distance she could see Snape standing in the middle of the field behind the house, his back was to her, and he was gazing up at the sky. Hermione walked across and stood next to him. He looked down at her and smirked, pulling his wand out.

"Are you sure about this? You will be on your own until you find Draco" He muttered.

Hermione nodded, "I must do this, Severus" She smiled.

"I will turn you into an Owl as we know they can pass through the wards unharmed. Once your outside I will turn you back, assuming my magic will be able to penetrate the wards"

Hermione nodded again, a bit scared this time. "Let's hope it does then" she laughed nervously.

Severus motioned for her to stand back a bit and then he flicked his wand and she felt herself changing. She was getting smaller, her eyes bigger and sharper. She could see so much more now then when she was human. She took off and flew through the wards, her brain was much simpler, and she almost forgot about Draco needing her, and felt as though she could fly forever.

A few minutes later she saw Severus flick his wand again and she reappeared, bright eyed and bushy haired. She waved in thanks and saw Severus mouth "_Good Luck" _to her. She smiled, glancing up at the Burrow one last time before Disapparating.

oOo

Severus walked back towards the Burrow slowly. He wished he could of gone with Granger and escape the confinements of all the Weasleys, and Potter. Reaching the back door, he pulled it open and nearly fainted as the heat rushed out and hit him, he never liked the warmth, that's why he liked the dungeons at Hogwarts so much, they were cold, just how he liked it.

He sat back down in his chair, and pulled his book back towards him, beginning to read. He knew that everyone would be angry at him in the morning, but he didn't care. He wanted Draco to be safe, and hoped that Granger would find him. She was a very smart witch after all, though he hated to admit it.

oOo

Morning brought the singing of birds, which woke Severus up. He grumbled as the Sun hit him in the face and caused him to squint. He grabbed his wand and flicked it at the curtains, causing them to close again, then sat back and rubbed his face.

"Morning Severus" Mrs Weasley said, bustling around the kitchen as usual. She had moved Ron to his old bedroom, and told Severus the funeral was scheduled for 2 days time. Would Granger have found Draco by then? he wondered.

Harry was next to come downstairs, yawning widely and hugging Ginny. He looked at Snape quickly then walked into the kitchen and grabbed some toast.

"Has Hermione come down yet, Mrs Weasley?" He asked, now pouring himself some Pumpkin juice.

"No, I haven't seen her. Have you Ginny?"

Ginny shook her head. "I thought she had already come down" She muttered, looking around the room as though expecting to see Hermione hiding behind a chair.

"She's gone" Severus said quietly. Might as well get the anger out of the way as soon as possible, he thought.

"Gone?" All three of them replied, watching him carefully.

"Gone" He repeated, getting up and sending his potions book flying onto the floor.

"Gone _where?" _Harry asked impatiently.

"Left the wards, gone to find Draco. Pretty obvious really, Potter" Snape sneered. He always did enjoy annoying the boy and nothing has changed since they both left Hogwarts.

"She can't go! You can't leave the wards" Ginny said, but Harry was watching Snape, his eyes slowly narrowing in realisation.

"You helped her go" He muttered, staring Snape straight in the eyes.

"Yes, I did. She wants to be with Draco, Potter."

"Why would you do that? She was _safe _here!" He yelled.

"Potter, are you stupid? She _loves _Draco, she may be safe but she won't be happy. And she wasn't _safe_ with you, but I didn't hear you complaining, too busy _saving _the world, I daresay." Severus sneered, his lip curling.

oOo

Hermione arrived at the Manor, or at the ruins of the Manor more like. There was rubbish strewn all over the ground, covered in a thick layer of dust. She pulled out her wand and began to move some of the bricks away. She noticed Pansy's body was gone as was the blood it was sitting in. Someone _had_ been back, but was it Draco or was it another Death Eater? She hurried to remove more bricks and found a pile of paper lying underneath.

Most of it was crumpled and too faded to be read, but one piece had bold writing on it. Hermione waved her wand over the paper to removed the dust and saw different addresses. Death Eater addresses, and at the top of the list was **_Rookwood_**.

Hermione had a weird feeling about this. Who would leave a bit of paper with all the addresses on under a few bricks? She knew it was a trap, she knew a Death Eater had planted it when they returned. Had Draco found it? Had he gone to the addresses not knowing, or perhaps, not caring that it was a trap?

She sighed, knowing Draco, he _had _gone. She glanced at the address, taking it in, then sighed again and closed her eyes. She turned and Disapparated, preparing for the worst.

**Thanks to Comix and Co, XiXi Scarlet, NightshadePrincess567 anddd Origurumi for the reviews :)**


	21. Save Yourself

**A/N: Sorry for really late update; I burnt myself out writing this and had to take a break. **

**Summary: Draco left to find his Mother and Blaise. Hermione, with the help of Snape, broke out of the Burrow and went to find him at Rookwood's house.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing :)**

She reappeared in front of a shabby old house, the windows were boarded up, and the front garden had obviously been forgotten. The front door lay ajar and Hermione pulled out her wand, lighting it, and then slowly looking around the street. She didn't know where she was, but everything felt wrong, so wrong. She also had the feeling that she was being watched, and felt herself shiver involuntarily.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly started towards the house, her ears listening for any sound of Draco, or any other presence. Once she reached the door she called out his name quietly, but no one replied. As though expecting this, Hermione pushed the door open more, and stepped into the hallway. There was dirt on the walls, along with old, tatty, wall paper that looked decades old. The carpet must have had at least four layers of dust, for she could only see grey powder on the floor.

She walked deeper into the house, her wand held in front of her chest, and her heart beating rapidly. She was half expecting a Death Eater to jump her, and she found herself shivering again. Her heart beat faster, when the wand light fell upon something dark, and sticky. Blood. Could it be Draco's blood? Or one of the Death Eaters? The blood was splattered against the walls, and down a staircase. She stood at the top and looked down, but it was pitch black. She had no choice, she had to go down.

Each step down her heart seemed to beat if possible, faster. The hairs on her neck stood up, and she felt sweat on her forehead. Never before has she done this alone, she always had Harry and Ron, and her stomach lurched at the thought of her argument with Harry. What if she died, and the last thing she said to Harry was harsh words? She stopped on the current step, her head telling her two different things.

She could go back, she could forget about Draco, and go back to Harry. Pretend none of this had happened, and go back to the way things were. Her heart however screamed no, it didn't want to go back, it wanted to find Draco, be close to Draco, feel his warmth. She carried on, feeling stupid and vulnerable. Well at least she was acting like a true Gryffindor, walking into danger without thinking, Harry would have been so proud, if it wasn't to save Draco.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she looked around the room, seeing it for the first time. The light from her wand fell on a chair, sat in the middle of the room. Upon the chair was someone, with a old sack on his head. His arms were tied behind the chair with thick rope, and his legs were chained to the floor. Hermione knew who it was straight away, the pale skin and ruined clothes gave it away, and she let out a sigh of relief.

She ran across, and pulled the sack off of his head, revealing Draco. She screamed, she couldn't help it, he looked half dead; His pale blond hair was caked with dirt and mud, his eyes were black and puffy, and he had three large gashes down the side of his face. His eyes were closed, and Hermione had to check his pulse to be sure that he was still alive.

"Draco?" She whispered, her hand gently stroking his face.

His eyes flickered, and slowly opened. The usual glint of life, his confidence, was all gone. His eyes were empty, dead.

"Hermione," He croaked, "You have to leave. It's a trap"

Hermione just shook her head, her eyes were watering and her bottom lip shook.

"I'm not leaving you" She cried

She moved towards his hands, but stopped when he shook his head. His eyes kept flicking shut, and his head rolled around on his shoulders.

"No - it's too late for me. Go. Before they come back" He muttered, his eyes closed again.

"But I love you - I came here to get you back, and that's what I'm going to do"

Draco laughed, a low, empty laugh. "You always were stubborn, Granger"

Hermione glanced around the room, looking for another way out. They were wasting time, and she had to get Draco out now, before it really was too late.

"Where is Rookwood? Or the others?" She whispered.

"At one of the other houses, they took Blaise and my Mother to separate places. I don't even know if they're still alive" He replied, his head rolling again, so that his eyes met Hermione's.

"Find my mother" He whispered

Hermione shook her head, "I'm here to save you. Besides I don't even know where your Mother or Blaise is"

"Sev - Severus. get him to help you. He-He knows." Draco murmured, his voice so faint that Hermione had to lean closer.

"Lets get you out first - then we can both go back to the Burrow, and talk to Snape" She urged. She didn't want to leave Draco, especially not in his condition.

"It's t-too late. Find them for me, Hermione. P - please" He looked up at her, his eyes full of defeat.

Hermione stayed near him, her eyes upon his, until she heard movement from upstairs. Draco heard it too, and a swift look of panic crossed his face.

"Pl- please, Hermione." He begged "Save yourself, Please. I love you, go""

Hermione leant close to him again, and kissed his cheek, before whispering in his ear "I love you". She grabbed the sack again and placed it back on Draco's head, hating herself as she did it. She could hear footsteps on the stairs, and quickly backed up.

"I'm coming back" She said, and could of sworn she heard Draco reply "Of course you are, you're a Gryffindor. Stubborn"

She turned and Disapparated just in time. Rookwood came down the stairs 30 seconds later, an ugly grin upon his face.

"Ready for round two, Draco?" He said, holding a large metal pole.


End file.
